


Catch and Release

by Armengard



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Action of All Kinds, Awkward Magical Curses, Bad Flirting, Chlodine - Freeform, Chlodine Week 2018, Eventual Smut, F/F, Poaching, Pre-Relationship, The Lost Legacy AU, also like WAY too much plot, not a furry fic you guys are just mean, shoreline - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-06-29 03:52:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 39,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15721422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Armengard/pseuds/Armengard
Summary: Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Curse AUNadine Ross is not a poacher.Her company, Shoreline, may deal in the hunt, capture and black market trade of illegal-to-own animals, but they certainly don't do anything barbaric as harm or kill them. Nadine takes pride in her work; she is one of the best.Currently, however, she has a few problems:Problem #1: her highly prized and hard-earned Bengalese black panther is missing from its cage.Problem #2: there is now a naked woman in there instead.(and oh no she's hot)





	1. ONE

This _fokken_ panther, Nadine Ross decided, had, in the end, almost not been worth all the bloody risk and back-breaking work it’d taken to get it.

Five men, it had killed—good, Shoreline men, _her_ men—before they’d even managed to confirm a single sighting—despite having some of their best equipment on hand; infrared, heat-tracking, motion-sensitive, the works—let alone catch it with a live spring-trap or shoot it with a fast-acting tranquilizer. And that, of course, was only after hunting it down, spending days mucking through the treacherous West Bengali jungle of India, following the faintest of tracks and struggling with disorientation, the heat, and their own growing self-doubt.

Of the five men killed, four had died without a sound to warn the others. The fifth, at least, had managed to fire a single warning shot of his Para .45 before having his throat crushed. Told of this, Nadine had appreciated the notion—probably, the sound had saved the rest of her men the similar fate of a quiet but gruesome death.

It was also of note that the bodies of her men—some only discovered several hours later—were not found on the steaming jungle floor, or partially hidden from sight in the thick, hip-deep, glistening green brush. Rather, the bodies had been hauled up high, into the trees above them, the corpses jammed between forking limbs and folded over crooked trunks, noticed only by their dripping blood, pattering down in ribbons on the carpet of wet leaves and twigs below.

As Nadine heard it, the situation had then (predictably) erupted into a riot bordering on sheer chaos. Shoreline, for the most part, did not often deal with such particularly vicious animals. Exotic (and highly illegal to own) pets were more their forte, though they did not make a habit of turning down any well-paying work. However, if Nadine had known how much risk and sacrifice this one job would involve, she would have seriously considered passing on it.

Naturally, some of her men, despite their rigorous training, panicked like wet-behind-the-ears greenhorns. Two ran. Another began shooting at anything that moved, and wound up accidentally killing one of her most experienced men with a stray hit to the chest.

It was, in her professional opinion, a complete and utter disaster, despite the fact they’d eventually accomplished the mission. If she had been there, she was confident there would have been no unnecessary fatalities or foolish mistakes. This, she would have made absolutely sure of with extreme prejudice, as she always did.

But, unfortunately, she hadn’t been there, stuck behind in South Africa on business. As the boss, it was something she hated, but simply could not avoid. She’d sent her second, Orca, in her stead. The West Bengali jungle was, she knew, no place for amateurs, especially when it had an elusive, man-eating panther lurking about the shadows.

Anyone else, at that point, faced with such a beast and the sudden loss of half a dozen men, and with night crowding down upon them besides, would have given up. Run off, tail between their legs. But Nadine Ross was not anyone else, and neither was her company. Her father had formed Shoreline’s bones, given it life, but had since passed on and now it was hers, and she’d be goddamned if one _bladdy_ panther drove her father’s spotless legacy into ruin.

Failure was not an option. That was Nadine’s credence, her promise to her clients. Shoreline had no competition in their field simply because they were the best. Their line of work was expensive, dangerous, and lucrative—in laymen’s terms, they dealt with the capture and trade of nearly a thousand different species of exotic animals. Some called it poaching. Nadine called it business. She dealt with clients on all seven continents, ran jobs for multi-millionaires, and took pride in the fact that, in all the animals she’d ever been sent out to capture, she’d never lost a single one, or harmed it unnecessarily.

Because that was Nadine’s catch--she would not hunt to kill these creatures. She would track, locate, and capture them. Afterwards, she would sell them. But, strictly, she would not slaughter them, or help someone else do the same. It was her one deal-breaker. Hundreds of rich businessmen and doctors around the world were always disappointed that she would not join or aid them on their testosterone-fueled safari hunts, hungry to shoot prized rhinoceri, giraffes, or even lions and elephants.

 _That_ was poaching, Nadine believed, and it disgusted her. What she did was entirely different, and all the more challenging than a simple bullet to the skull. And she was _fokken_ good at it.

Somehow, trapped in the descending jungle darkness, Orca had gotten the frightened men back in line. They’d reassessed their situation, and come up with a plan to try and draw the beast out with a noisemaker designed to attract prey-driven animals. It’d worked, the panther slinking out to investigate the device, and someone managed to shoot it with a tranquilizer dart on the haunch just before it smelled them and bolted off. They'd then used the tiny GPS locator embedded in the head of the dart to track the panther back to a wet, stinking, cramped little cave hidden beneath the jagged fall of an old rockslide.

Three more men died, actually getting the panther out. They’d misjudged the drugs, thought the beast was asleep, and crept inside the dark cave to be horrifically mauled, one after the other. Finally, after the panther had at last gone unconscious, they’d dragged the beast out, trussed it up, and headed back toward civilization, victorious yet badly beaten all the same.

Nadine was angry. Furious. One _fokken_ panther had killed more than half a squad of her men. If she ever found the ones who’d panicked and fled into the depths of the jungle, she’d kill them herself. The one who’d shot his comrade, they fired immediately, but not before a proper thrashing by Orca and a few of her boys. Nadine did not look down on some corporal punishment, especially when it was so well-deserved.

The panther, however, rightfully remained the focus of her ire. It’d damn well nearly made a fool of her and her business. But now it was hers. Supposedly, the animal had become rather famous in that area of West Bengal, having garnered a ferocious reputation after mauling more than two dozen men over the space of several months, all of them poachers who’d delved deep into the jungle to hunt it down, either for its pelt, the bragging rights, or propositioned by the same man who’d approached Nadine for the job, just over two weeks ago.

His name was Asav—whether it was his first or last name, Nadine did not know. The fact that he’d neglected to verify made her think him conceited or pompous. She suspected both. He was a rich doctor turned cutthroat entrepreneur and businessman in India, known for his eclectic tastes and absurdly valuable collections. He’d decided, at some point, and for some insipid reason, that a Bengalese black panther had to join the ranks of whatever other exotic animals he owned, and had hired Nadine and Shoreline for the job. Nadine had agreed, though she found she disliked the man, and wasn’t sure why, as she had not yet met him in person. Now that they had the panther in their possession, she was sure he would not take long to make an appearance. She was not exactly looking forward to their eventual meeting, but the eventual payday would be well worth it.

Once secured, they’d shipped the panther overseas rather than risk the lengthy distance by road, constantly policed by officials. Asav had at least had the courtesy to warn Nadine of several strict areas in India they were to avoid, and informed her, if their deal was finalized, that the panther would eventually be moved to his property in London, England, rather than his India estate.

As always, Nadine accommodated. As a form of travel, planes were equally risky in moving their highly-illegal goods, as long flights tended to sicken and stress the animals, sometimes to the point of near-death. Nadine was steadfast in avoiding such situations. Following a well-established black market route by sea that Shoreline had been using for more than a decade, their one disguised cargo ship made good time, and the weather stayed in their favor as they trundled across the Indian Ocean.

Soon enough, the ship arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, where Shoreline had relocated its home base from thriving Johannesburg. The move, which had taken place after her father’s passing, had, to Nadine, been justified by ease of business. It was closer to the sea, and the shipments of their precious cargo. Shuttling the crates from barge to base—a sprawl of gated warehouses on the outskirts of the downtown area—was simpler, and drew far less attention from officials than before. Their location also made it easier to detect if the authorities came sniffing by, looking for trouble.

When Orca and what was left of her squad had arrived, Nadine met them at the docks, where they barely avoided yet another untimely disaster. While switching the recently-dosed panther from travel crate to transport cage, where it would then be shuttled to a Shoreline warehouse until their buyer, Asav, came for inspection, the seemingly sleeping panther miraculously roused to near-full awareness, with Nadine herself not even three feet away, working to close up the cage door.

She’d heard a snarl like wet, ripping cloth, and snapped her head up to find the beast lunging straight for her, swiping at her with all four of its razor-sharp claws extended. She’d stumbled backwards with a surprised cry, felt the whistle of air as the panther narrowly missed her face, then shouted as pointed white teeth clacked shut inches from her right ankle. She’d kicked outwards—not at the panther, of course, but at the cage door—slamming it shut with a reverberating _clang!_

The panther had made one more sluggish attempt to bite at her, pushing its broad head up against the thick metal bars, but the lock had engaged, and the animal slipped back into its foggy daze, going limp. Shaken, Nadine had gotten to her feet only to belatedly discover the panther hadn’t missed at all, just slashed her so cleanly she’d barely felt it. It’d opened a shallow gash diagonally across her sternum and throat, oozing blood and only then, beginning to burn and pulse. The cut was not life-threatening, but it had required medical care, which Nadine had only allowed done after ordering another dose of tranquilizers for the panther, to ensure there would not be a second victim.

The talking-to she’d given her men, afterwards, was one she was sure they’d remember for some time. Ignoring the taped bandage on her chest and the sting and pull of her liquid stitches, Nadine had worked quickly with her cowed men to properly cover the cage and then load it into their cargo truck to be driven without incident to their main warehouse, temporarily emptied of all other animals so as not to stress their new prize too badly.

Following their usual protocol, they made the short trek just after dark, using the evening gloom to their advantage and taking back roads to avoid police patrol routes. Once the panther was situated at the Shoreline warehouse, Nadine had sent the bulk of her men to their barracks to sleep. Orca, wanting to make up for his near-failure, back in the jungle, demanded to have first watch. Nadine let him, not wanting to shatter whatever pride remained in the man, but only after ensuring he was at his best.

She’d left him in their security office—a windowed room on the warehouse’s second floor, flanked on three sides by flickering monitors from the more than two-dozen security cameras set up within and without the entire compound—and then went upstairs, to the top level of the warehouse to get some sleep herself. She’d had a shoddy apartment built there specifically for her, little more than a smattering of particle-board rooms, a sputtering shower, and a double-wide cot to pass out on. Nadine preferred it to her own empty apartment in the city proper. She had never needed anything more than the basics, anyways.

That night, she’d slept deeply, despite a chest that’d seemed aflame, and dreamed of the dead men lost in the black jungle, dangling from trees, and the panther itself, snarling and lunging for her again. This time, she wasn’t able to pull away in time, and the panther’s paw hit her throat, and its mouth closed around her ankle, but didn’t bite down. It merely held her there in an impossibly strong grip, until she stopped fighting and simply lay there, gasping, and soon the terror in her breast was gone but the pressure of its formidable jaws remained, the weight of its one paw bearing down on her neck, a constant presence, there, _there_ , until it became something that was almost reassuring.

 

—

 

The panther was quiet now, sitting in its new cage in the middle of the warehouse floor in the early hours of the morning. Twenty by twenty foot, the cage was a solid mass of threaded metal bars built right into the flat, cemented warehouse floor, the topmost bars and partially shaded ceiling a healthy fifteen feet high, its one barred, swinging door kept firmly shut by no less than three padlocks, each the size of Nadine’s fist. In the two back corners were elevated, enclosed metal perches for the panther to hide in, so it would not feel so exposed all the time. There was also a trough on one side for food and water. Both, Nadine noted, were so far untouched.

Nadine had received a call from Asav less than an hour ago, announcing he would be arriving to appraise his panther within a day or two. If it was, indeed, a rare  Bengalese black panther, as he had specifically requested, he would initiate payment and prepare the necessary arrangements to receive the panther into his care. Nadine was not impatient for the transaction to occur. She actually preferred when clients took their time before transferring the animals over, as, usually, it meant they were adequately suited to care for the animal. Nadine did not at all condone mistreatment of her animals—or, rather, any animal at all.

Last night, she had ordered the panther’s tranquilizers stopped. If she could avoid it, she preferred the animals not to be in a stupor for too long, even if they tended to become stressed or frightened after waking in their cages. The nerve damage the powerful drugs might cause was worse, in her opinion, and fresh food and water paired with a quiet atmosphere and low lighting usually calmed even the most flighty of her fares. Human interaction was also kept at a minimum. Only those with clearance worked directly with the animals. Nadine, without exception, did not allow abuse after capture by any of her men, including torture or even goading. Any Shoreline employee caught doing so was immediately fired and ejected from the company with extreme prejudice.

Now, crouched with elbows on knees before the massive cage, Nadine had to squint to see the panther in the dim of the warehouse. She’d learned most animals didn’t like harsh, fluorescent lighting, and so had installed natural lights overhead wherever the animals were kept, to keep them in their ingrained cycle of day and night, and, for the panther, to at least somewhat imitate its shadowed, jungle atmosphere. She also had central heating and air-conditioning installed in all Shoreline warehouses, to keep the animals comfortable. 

Though she could hear the panther’s steady breathing—not rapid panting, which was a good sign—she could not actually see the beast, its dark coloring perfectly matching the shadows along the bottom of the cage floor. When she did finally find it, she had to suppress a gasp. The only giveaway of its location was its eyes, a light, piercing grey color. She squinted, and just barely made out the shape of its body, curled into a tense ball in the cage’s far corner. Usually, a panther’s spots could be seen faintly in the light, as its black coat was just very dark brown. This panther, however, appeared, to Nadine’s trained eye, utterly jet black. She couldn’t catch even a glimpse of its underlying spots. Strange.

Beside her, Orca was arguing with Knot, her third-in-command. Nadine had tuned them out to admire their catch but caught a snatch of their conversation and stood.

“—I mean a jaguar’s a jaguar and a panther’s a panther, and we should get more for it, ja?” Knot was saying. Nadine cut him off automatically.

“A panther isn’t a separate species of big cat,” she said. “The word, _panther_ , is just defined as a melanistic color variant of the _Panthera_ genus, meaning anything that includes tigers, lions, jaguars, and leopards.”

“Oh,” said Orca, sounding confused.

“…Melon- _what?_ ” said Knot.

Nadine resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Her men, though surrounded by all sorts of exotic animals nearly every day, seemed to know next to nothing about them. “ _Melanism_. Like melanin, the pigments in your skin? Makes it darker or lighter, depending how much there is?”

“Uh…” said Knot. “Okay?”

“Basically,” Nadine went on, “a panther is just a black-colored variant of a jaguar or a leopard. This one here—see how big its head is, the muscular jaw, how it’s not so stocky in the body, and the length of its tail? Over three feet, ja? This one’s a leopard variant. Probably an Indian Leopard, then, based on where we caught it. They can run nearly seventy kilometers an hour, and leap seven yards.” She wisely did not add, _They can also haul prey heavier than themselves up into trees to eat later_. Those dead men were still heavy on her conscious. Even Orca, hardened by years of mercenary work, had seemed disturbed upon his return from the hunt.

“Huh,” said her second-in-command. “Let’s not get too much closer then, eh?” He laughed, but Nadine could hear his stifled nervousness. None of them, she was sure, would underestimate this creature ever again.

There was a commotion outside, and Nadine left the panther and walked out of the warehouse bay doors just as a large Shoreline truck puttered through the gate surrounding their enclosure. Some of her men got out and began to unload their gear from the cargo ship—a scattering of supplies and weapons, and fresh raw meat, for the panther, as well as most of the high-tech equipment from their hunt, and then, with a bit more care, the tightly wrapped bodies of their comrades, covered in shrouds. Nadine’s mouth tightened, seeing that. The smell was atrocious, though understandable. They would be buried later that day. A quiet ceremony, as none had had families. Nadine and the rest of Shoreline would stand for them instead.

Off the truck came the large crate that had housed the panther during the lengthy sea route. Nadine helped direct the forklift as it lowered it to the ground. Inside, the crate smelled foul, like rotten meat, filled with hay and various animal detritus. In the corner was a thick coil of chain and a metal collar, still fastened shut. Nadine peered at it skeptically, her temper rising. She called Orca over and motioned to the collar with her chin.

“What’s this doing here?” she demanded.

“Well,” Orca began, looking worried she might explode on him, which she very well might, depending on his answer, “a couple of the boys put a collar on it right after we put it on the boat, y’know, after—after what it’d done to the others. They were scared, I s’pose. I—I didn’t hear ‘bout it til the next day, ma’am, and I told ‘em to take it off right away, but—er, when we looked in the crate, we saw that sometime in the night it’d… It’d come off, somehow.”

 _Came off?_ Nadine’s brows lowered. Metal collars and chains didn’t just come off by accident, especially not ones sturdy as that one. Plus, a collar that size would fit a bit _too_ snugly around the panther’s neck, meaning the animal’s broad head would be literally too big to squeeze back out. How, then, was the collar stilled locked like that?

Either way, she wasn’t happy. There was absolutely no need to chain an animal up when it was already fully secured. Why cause the animal unnecessary distress, just to make yourself feel safer?

“Find me the ones who chained it up,” she said. “Demote them all. If one was higher ranked, fire him. He should have known better.”

Orca was still, as though shocked she’d been so lenient. Normally, she would have fired and blacklisted everyone involved. For some reason, she didn’t feel the need. Not today, at least.

“Dismissed,” she snapped at him.

Orca jerked, then saluted and marched smartly away.

Back inside the warehouse, the panther was unmoved. Its breathing was steady and slow, a good sign. Knot was still lingering nearby, as though intrigued by the creature.

“Who’s on watch tonight?” Nadine asked him.

“Uh,” said Knot, looking as he always did when she approached him so intently—inches from bare panic. “M-me and Snake, ma’am.”

“No,” said Nadine. “You and Snake get your rest. You’ll both be shipping out soon for that job in Madagascar, ja? I’ll do the watch.” The idea was a jump one, but something about that collar bothered Nadine. If you wanted a job done properly, she believed, it was best to do it yourself.

Knot hesitated. “You… You sure, ma’am?”

Nadine leveled a glare at him.

Like Orca, Knot jerked, then saluted and marched off, perhaps a bit quicker than his higher-up had.

Momentarily alone, Nadine turned to peer again at the panther, who still had not moved from its cramped spot in the back. To her surprise, the panther was looking back at her, its intense, low-lidded grey gaze boring out from its dark corner, straight into her own. Nadine fought a sudden shiver at the intelligence teeming in those eyes. There was something strange about them. Something that made her metaphorical hackles rise. She studied its face, nearly indiscernible in the shadows—its flat forehead, broad muzzle, and damp nose—and noticed that, of the panther’s two round, furry ears, one had a small, U-shaped notched missing on the upper furl, as if from a fight, or perhaps a stray bullet. Asav might dock her pay for that slight imperfection. If it was the fault of one of her men, Nadine would dock them far more than mere money.

Again, she met the panther’s eyes, and felt that strange jitteriness again. It was unnerving, the look it was giving her. Still, she figured, as she stepped away and set off back to work, for the money she was going to make on the _fokken_ thing, the panther could very well stare at her any way it liked.

 

—

 

Night watches, typically, were quiet, long, and boring, unless you had a partner to chat with. Nadine preferred to do her shifts alone. She hated small talk—not that any of her men talked to her casually. Most of them downright feared her, which was fine, so long as they respected her as well. Staying awake through the drag of the night hours wasn’t difficult either, so long as you drank plenty of coffee or tea and remained alert to any disturbances.

Nadine liked to follow a routine whenever she was on a night watch. In the beginning, she would scan the monitors for changes. Then, radio clipped to her belt and gun holstered at her hip, she would go on foot patrol, and walk briskly throughout the warehouse; once around the interior, and once around the exterior. If she found no strange occurrences or anything out of the ordinary, she would circuit back to the security room, and sit once more at the monitors to begin another scan of the cameras. Once a night, she’d radio the other warehouses, and check in with the men on watch there—any area of the base where animals were housed had at least one man for surveillance, just in case. Nadine, in all her time as Shoreline’s head, hadn’t yet had an incident with an escaped or stolen animal. She wanted to keep that record spotless.

Tonight, she watched the monitors intently. Two of the cameras were pointed directly at the panther and its cage. One had a rather good view of the beast, which was pacing restlessly back and forth in front of its cage door. Nadine kept an eye on it, hoping the animal would calm soon. It still had not eaten today, which irked her. Eventually, she knew, it’d get hungry enough to consume a full meal. They'd just have to wait.

Slightly before midnight, as she returned from a foot patrol, she stopped at the filthy kitchenette down the hall to make herself a cup of tea. When she returned to the security room, holding her mug in one hand and her radio in the other, she flicked her eyes automatically across the row of fuzzy screens. There was no movement. In the cage, the panther appeared to have finally settled down. It was sitting upright, almost like a housecat, its long, sinuous tail curled around its flexing paws. Every once in a while, it twitched a whisker or an ear, but otherwise did not move. It looked like a majestically carved statue. A beautiful creature, overall.

She raised the cup of tea to her lips, and looked from the row of monitors to the windows overlooking the warehouse interior itself. Sometimes, she preferred to trust her own eyes rather than a camera’s. Everything appeared in order. The stacks of supplies along the walls were untouched, the dimmed lights overhead humming faintly, and in the cage, a naked woman was sitting—

Her mouthful of scorching tea caught in her throat and shot back out of her mouth. She erupted into furious coughing. Her mug dropped from numb fingers, and shattered on the floor with a shockingly loud _crack!_ Tea went everywhere.

At that moment, her radio crackled to life.

“All good here,” came a staticky voice. “Quiet, just how I like it, eh?” Mack, one of her men in the other warehouses, checking in for the night.

“Me, too,” came another voice, right after. “Not a peep.”

One by one, her men radioed in, until Nadine was the last.

_What the—?_

Nadine’s eyes snapped back to the line of screens, where a panther was still sitting upright and calm in the cage. She went back to the window. The naked woman was still there, too. She’d stirred a little when Nadine had dropped her mug and begun to hack, but hadn’t gotten up, or started yelling. She looked like maybe she was… meditating? Doing yoga?

“Boss?” Mack said with a crackle. Waiting for her all-clear.

Nadine was utterly still. She didn’t dare move or even breathe for several moments. This was, quite simply, not possible. She blinked hard a few times, as if to clear her vision. Very slowly, she looked back and forth between the monitors and the security office window, at the cage down on the warehouse floor.

On the camera, a panther.

Before her very eyes, a woman.

What the _fok_ was going on?

Someone—someone was messing with her. Had to be. She’d kill them, once she found out who it was. Not Knot, he was too frightened of her. Orca wouldn’t dare, either. Maybe it was one of the newer boys—

But, no, that made no sense. The panther, she’d just seen it. Literally. It’d been there, in the cage.

She snatched up her radio and said, in a hoarse voice, “...All clear.”

In the silence that followed, she took a shaky breath, and acknowledged that, to get to the truth, she’d have to go down to the warehouse floor herself and investigate. If there was a feral panther loose in the building, they’d have a disaster on their hands. As if in reminder, the itching wound on her chest gave a sharp throb. Until she was entirely sure of the situation, she would not call for help.

With quick, precise movements, she double-checked her pistol at her hip, made sure it was loaded, then snatched up a nearby AK-47, leaning against the table, and slung it across her chest, holding it warily, her index finger laid straight beside the trigger but not on it. Shooting the animal, if it _was_ out, would be her very last option, and only if it attacked her first.

She left the security office and made her way down the rickety metal steps to the bottom floor. The warehouse was dark and silent and eerie. Every noise she made was amplified tenfold, her footsteps echoing off the walls and across the cavernous ceiling. She imagined the panther lurking in the shadows surrounding her and felt the hair on the back of her neck go stiff with alarm. She kept a loose grip on her rifle, though her heart had begun to race. An escaped panther, trapped in here with her, was enough to bring a cold sweat to her throat, and make her stomach go cold with dread.

 _If_ , she reminded herself. _If_ the panther was out. _If_ she had to shoot it. _If_ she was not going mad, or imagining things.

And, there. The cage, right in front of her. It was, impossibly, still locked. Inside was the woman, unmoved. She was completely naked, sitting in a loose lotus position, knees folded, forearms turned upwards on her thighs. Her skin was brown, hair black, long and straight and loose. She was a bit on the thinner side, and appeared older than Nadine by anywhere from five to ten years. There was a split, fading purple bruise on her hip, as though someone had been treating her roughly. Her neck was faintly bruised as well, like someone had tried to strangle her.

“Hey there,” said the naked woman suddenly. Nadine jumped. The woman was looking at her with a friendly sort of smile on her face, regarding her casually with low-lidded eyes. Nadine met her gaze and felt a chill go through her, exactly as it had earlier, when the panther had looked at her. Actually, their eyes had been similar in color.

The cage, other than the woman inside, was empty. The panther was gone.

Nadine shook her head, hard, trying to make sense of it all.

“Not dreaming, just so you know,” said the woman helpfully. She stood gracefully and came up to the bars at the front of the cage, gripping one in each of her long-fingered hands. Slender as she was, the bars were too closely threaded for her to squeeze through. She was also, Nadine noticed idly, covered in goosebumps. “Say, it’s a bit cold in here. Think I could get something to wear, maybe?”

For a moment, Nadine simply stood there, completely dumbfounded. Then, automatically, she slowly lowered her rifle and lifted the strap over her head, placing the gun on the ground at her side. Feeling numb and sluggish, she began to unbutton her Shoreline-issued safari shirt, the thick, light brown material well-worn to softness and rolled to her elbows, leaving herself in a thin white tank top darkened with sweat at the neck and the sides. She did not want to get any closer to the cage, and so, tentatively, slung the shirt through the bars, so it landed beside the naked woman’s bare feet.

“My hero,” said the woman, who bent and picked up the shirt, shaking it out before slipping it on with an audible sigh of relief. She did up only half the buttons, the shirt’s hem going barely past her smooth hips, but it was better than nothing. “And they say chivalry is dead.”

“Where did the panther go?” Nadine asked in a weak voice she fought to keep steady and strong. She knew, already, that if she looked again at the camera feed, the panther would still be sitting there, same as before, which meant there had to be something wrong with the recording, or perhaps the camera itself. Had the digital file frozen somehow? Or were they being hacked?

“The panther? Why, she’s right here,” said the woman, and grinned. Oddly enough, some of her pristine white teeth appeared slightly sharper than they should be. Her voice lowered to a husky purr. “Pleasure. Name’s Chloe. Chloe Frazer. What’s yours?”

Nadine stared, her mind scrambling for a far more realistic answer. Something that actually made sense. “Who—who put you in there? Did someone hurt you? Did they steal the panther, too? What’d they look like?” She reached for her handheld radio, clipped back on her belt, prepared to call her boys in to go on a search for the beast, and the thief who’d taken their prize, and also kidnapped this woman and caged her for unknown reasons.

The woman—Chloe?—rolled her eyes and gave a short, flirty laugh. “ _You_ put me in here, silly. Don’t you remember? Listen, sorry about the other day. I wasn’t gonna bite you, honest. I was pretty out of it. I hope the scratch isn't too bad, either."

"The scratch," Nadine repeated, voice hollow, and felt, beneath the bandage, as the wound on her chest flared and then began to itch anew. How did this woman know about that? Of course, she could simply be guessing what was under the tape and gauze—

"My mum’s always on me about my manners," said Chloe. "But those guys before, they were a bit rougher than I like, and I guess I thought maybe you’d be the same. I was wrong, though. You… You’re not the same at all, are you?” She looked Nadine slowly up and down, and abruptly, Nadine felt as though she were the naked one, standing there.

“The man,” she felt compelled to insist, “who put you in there, did he also give you drugs?”

“You’re a funny one,” said Chloe, grinning at her fiercely. She cocked her head to the side, then released one of the bars to tuck a thick lock of black hair behind her ear. Her ear, which had a U-shaped notch in the upper furl, as if from a bullet.

Just like the panther.

This… This was not happening.

“I’m not mad about the collar, just so you know.”

“Collar?” Nadine repeated again, feeling as though she could do little else at the moment.

“I mean, there’s a time and a place for that sort of thing—” Chloe winked “—and besides, once I changed back, it was easy enough to just slip over my head. No harm done, really.”

Nadine could not think of a reply to that, and simply stood there, mouth open.

“Judging by your accent, and how long I was at sea,” Chloe said casually, “I’d say I’m somewhere in South Africa, right? Let me guess… Cape Town?” Taking Nadine’s silence as confirmation, she grinned again. “Ah. The Mother City. Always wanted to visit, you know. Not like this, exactly, but I won’t complain.” She chuckled lightly. Nadine felt sick.

“I… I need to call this in.”

“Nah, that’s ok. You and me can just talk by ourselves a little longer, can’t we?”

Again, Nadine reached for her radio. “No, I—”

“Relax,” Chloe said. “You’ll live longer, really. You're so much better company than the one I had last night.”

Nadine stared.

“You know,” Chloe continued, “the one with the haircut, like he got caught in a lawnmower?”

 _Orca_ , Nadine realized, her stomach clenching in a knot. Orca, who’d been on watch last night. For Chloe to know that, she must have been here, in the warehouse. But how?

“Bloke fell asleep something like ten minutes after eleven,” Chloe went on. “Out like a light when I showed up. Didn’t see a thing. You, though. You’re a bit more... _on it._ One of those girls who sticks to the rules, are you? What, scared of the boss or something?”

"I am the boss,” Nadine said dumbly.

Laughing in wonder, Chloe eyed her up and down again with a blatant air of appreciation. “Really? Well, well, well. That’s a nice change of pace. Just between us, we women gotta stick together, out there in the working world.” Her grin turned almost predatory. “You alright? Don’t pass out on me, now.”

Nadine was swaying where she stood. “No, this is just—just the strangest dream I’ve ever had.”

At that, Chloe burst out laughing. “Maybe you should go sit down, then.”

“…Ja,” Nadine agreed weakly. She felt dizzy and lightheaded. Quite suddenly, sitting down seemed the perfect idea. “Maybe I will.” They stared at each out for a long moment—Nadine expressionless, Chloe smirking—then Nadine picked up her rifle and walked unsteadily away.

“Want your shirt back?” Chloe called behind her.

Nadine kept walking. “Keep it.” She couldn’t care less what happened to it. She needed to go sit down, immediately.

Back in the security office, she sank into a chair and put her head in her hands. Her face felt flushed and overly hot. She was sweating. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so terribly flustered, so knocked off balance. She had no idea what to do, how to deal with this situation.

Only once did she look at the humming monitors—the woman, Chloe, had, once again, been replaced by the stoic black panther, standing up against the bars where Chloe had leaned and flirted with her. Nadine put her head back into her hands and took deep breaths. At some point, she leaned back and closed her eyes, her guts roiling, temples throbbing.

Somehow, she fell asleep like that, and dreamed of sharp fangs and soft skin and a panther’s piercing scream, the rising shrill of it tearing down her back like claws.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: ok we gon do somethin short and sweet this time around shorrt an sweett sshoert andnaf shewtewt
> 
> my brain: when will this bitch learn???
> 
>  
> 
> so
> 
> went for something a bit more indulgent(ly stupid) this time around. AU + curse fic = completely out of my comfort zone but thought I'd give it the ol college try. this fic was sparked by a random fanart I saw by tumblr user [annsfinks](http://www.annsfinks.tumblr.com). [here's](http://www.annsfinks.tumblr.com/post/172004355126/home-sweet-home-chloe-the-shifter-to-a-rare) a link to the art. while my story turned out quite a bit diff from the drawing, it was still the main inspiration for it; the backbone, as it were
> 
> also, happy chlodine week! funny story (not really) I was writing this fic anyways and was about halfway into it before I even learned about the lost legacy anniversary coming up. tumblr user [contrivedchaos](http://www.contrivedchaos.tumblr.com) threw together some cool prompts for it so I figured I could just cut the finished story up into five parts for the five days and pretend that's what I wrote it for all along. sounds legit, right? 
> 
> anyways today's word is "flustered." I'll be posting each of the other chapters day by day with friday being the last. hang in there, cuz this thing is a BEAST (christ unintentional pun god I'm lame)
> 
> side note (I didn't notice this til a day or two ago when I was rewatching TLL cutscenes on youtube for the nth time): during the beginning of the game when they're running out of the city from asav and his men, nadine literally tells chloe "guess a leopard can't change her spots." when I saw it I screamed. I mean, how perfect is that???


	2. TWO

A tentative hand on her shoulder woke her. Nadine jerked upright, automatically grabbing the offending hand by the wrist and twisting it sharply. She heard a faint _pop_ , then an “ _Ah!_ ” and realized it was Orca, and let go immediately.

"Shit,” she groaned. Her back was sore from sleeping in the chair all night, and she felt groggy and slow from poor sleep. She lifted her wrist to check her watch. It was just past 5AM. Shift change, which explained why Orca was there. Still, he should have known better than to try and shake her awake like that. A kick to her boot would’ve worked far better.

"Ma’am?” said Orca, wincing as he rubbed at his injured wrist. She hadn’t broken it, but it was probably sprained at the very least. Orca looked unsure and slightly worried. Never in her professional career had Nadine fallen asleep while on surveillance. Still feeling oddly, Nadine ignored him, grunting out a sound she hoped he’d accept for a reply and rubbing at her bleary eyes. She’d had so many strange dreams last night. Something about a cage and a panther, the one they’d captured, and a naked woman with black hair and a flirty, infuriating smile. Clearly, Nadine needed to get out more. Maybe date someone, or just take a beautiful woman home for the night. Work this from her system. It was difficult, though, holding a relationship with a job like this, and—

A bolt went through her.

The panther—

The woman—

It—

_No—_

She shot to her feet and shoved Orca aside rudely as she rushed from the room. She broke into a jog down the steps to the bottom level and nearly tripped, her boots clanging loudly on the metal stairway. On the cement, they smacked and thudded as she sprinted toward the warehouse center, hoping, dreading, not believing what would be waiting for her—

And there, in the cage—

—was the black panther, exactly as it’d been the other day. The cage door, she noticed at once, was firmly shut and properly locked, untampered with. The naked woman was gone. She’d dreamed it.

Nadine slumped with relief. She felt weak for a moment, and almost wanted to laugh. Slowly, she approached the cage, where the panther was awake, curled up like a sphinx with its forelimbs tucked under its chest, purring drowsily, its piercing grey eyes half-lidded, tail lashing slowly back and forth across the flat of the cage floor. As Nadine watched, it yawned, exposing a bright pink tongue and glistening gums topped with deadly sharp teeth. It paused and licked its shoulder nonchalantly a few times, then suddenly stretched out and began to rub its face and neck vigorously against something it’d been laying on. It looked like clothing of some kind, but who had put that in the cage? The panther twisted about as if its spine were made of water, purring so loudly Nadine could feel it resonating in her chest, and then she saw it was rubbing itself against her _shirt_ , _her shirt was still in there_.

She’d really thrown it inside. That’d happened. And that meant—

_No, no—_

Nausea surged. A cold sweat rose to the back of her neck. _Fok_. No, there—there was no way. It didn’t happen. It couldn’t. It— It—

As if sensing her inner plight, the purring panther stopped its enthusiastic nuzzling of her now fraying, fur-covered Shoreline shirt and looked over at her. It was on its back now, hind legs sticking in the air like a playful housecat, forelimbs curled to its chest in a precocious pose, tail sweeping lazily from side to side. Its purring was louder than ever, rumbling through the metal of the cage in a steady, thrumming vibration.

Someone laughed faintly _—_ a few Shoreline men were lingering by the bay doors, peering curiously at the playful panther. Footsteps approached from behind. Nadine didn’t turn until Orca came to a stop just beside her.

“Is that...?” Orca started. “…How’d it get your shirt, ma’am?” he asked, sounding completely dumbfounded.

Nadine’s mouth fell open, at once acutely aware she was still in her tank top from the night before, and had not noticed until now. The wound on her sternum was itching furiously. She had no idea what to say. She could not very well tell him, _I gave it to her, but it was a naked woman at the time, and she was cold._ After a long, tense moment, she clapped her mouth shut, and then growled out, “Don’t you have something to _do?_ ”

A smart man, Orca simply shook his head doubtfully and then left, chasing the spectators out as well.

Nadine closed her eyes and fought to keep her head. 5AM and already, she was anxious and sweating. _Eish_. There had to be another explanation to this. Perhaps she’d gotten hot sometime during the night, and gone for a walk, removed her shirt, and left it a bit too close to the cage than she should have, and the panther took it for… for…

“ _Jissus_ ,” she swore under her breath. At the sound, the panther flicked an ear and turned its head to her, meeting her gaze with uncanny intent. Another chill went through Nadine, as though a bucket of ice water had been doused over her head. She could not look away, breathing shallowly. At last, the panther broke eye contact first, then once again began to rub its face, ears and neck all over her now-ruined shirt, purring and licking at the rough material like it’d been soaked in irresistible catnip.  

She watched for only a short while more, struggling within herself over many things, then forced herself to turn away. She had better things to focus on than this mystery. _Real_ things. Like meeting with their buyer, Asav, who was due to arrive later today. Nadine needed to shower, change, and get her boys and her company in line before that.

Barking out orders into the scramble of men that followed, she began preparations, then headed upstairs, to her personal quarters to change, and quite purposefully did not think about the cage, the panther, the woman, or her shirt for the rest of the morning.

 

—

 

At precisely 2PM that afternoon, the panther’s solicitor arrived at Shoreline headquarters. He was a tall, solidly built Indian man with slicked back graying hair, a stern face, and glasses. Almost immediately, Nadine did not like him, though she was not entirely sure why. Business types usually annoyed her, but the naked disdain she felt for this man seemed strange. He was polite enough, and handsome, she supposed _—_ if you were into that _—_ dressed in a pristine button up shirt and slacks, hair and beard perfectly groomed. Still, he gave her an odd, uncertain feeling that brought her guard up the moment they shook hands. It took considerable effort not to squeeze too hard on his thick, well-moisturized fingers.

"Nadine Ross,” he said with a strong Indian accent, sounding impressed and appreciative and a little too close to suggestive than Nadine liked with men. “A woman of her word. You’ve impressed me. Here I thought no one would be able to capture this beast, but here you are, proving me wrong. I should have known someone of your caliber could handle this without a problem.”

"I lost nine men,” Nadine said bluntly. It hurt her pride only slightly to voice such a fact aloud, but this stupid businessman needed to realize his whimsical little fancy had resulted in the deaths of some of her best hunters, and Shoreline would be subsequently compensated. Nadine would make sure of it.

Asav’s taciturn face took on an appropriate expression of sorrow, tinged with regret, but to Nadine it seemed overly done. Fake. This man did not care.

"I’m very sorry for your loss, Miss Ross. As stated in our contract, I have no problem with providing the previously agreed upon mortality fee.” An eager, hungry light awoke in his eyes. “Now. Forgive me for my impatience, but would it be possible for me to see my prize?”

Nadine almost wanted to refuse. Warning bells were going off in her head, but with some effort, she grit her teeth and nodded. Together, they walked to the warehouse where the panther was being kept, Nadine allowing Asav to lead by a few steps so she could keep an eye on him.

The second they opened the warehouse bay doors and stepped inside, a shrill scream tore through the air, almost like a hysterical woman in the throes of a horrifically painful death. Beside her, Orca shouted, “ _Fok!_ ” in alarm. Even Nadine jumped, startled by the sound. Her hand shot to her gun on her hip, but didn’t draw the weapon free. Her heart was abruptly pounding.

It was the panther, she realized with a start. The creature had been preternaturally calm practically since arriving at the warehouse the night before, and to hear it now, screaming so fiercely, brought a thrill of fear racing down her spine.

In the cage, the panther was by the bars closest to them, the thick fur along its back bristled and standing on end. Its ears were flat against its head, pupils dilated to wide circles, flashing white teeth bared in a vicious snarl. It hissed loudly, and even swiped its claws at the bars, the tips catching on the metal and throwing a single spark.

Unafraid, Asav took a step toward the cage, and the panther lunged at him, snarling and spitting in a frenzy. Nadine, who had made her career out of the dealing of wild animals, had never seen one so frantically upset. It seemed on the verge of a rabid, primal rage. Asav took another step, and it slammed against the bars so hard the entire cage shook with a reverberating clang. Nadine jumped again. Orca grabbed his sidearm and unholstered it.

"Don’t!” Nadine snapped at him, despite the fact that her hands were shaking, her breath coming fast. Intimidating as it was, the panther was securely in its cage. There was no possible way for it to break free.

Despite the panther’s show of violence, Asav had not flinched at all. If anything, the animal’s blatant aggression towards him seemed to amuse him. He knelt by the cage, just out of range of the panther’s reaching claws, and peered in at the creature, who’d begun to growl thunderously, its body flattened to the floor, as if prepared to pounce, glaring straight at the man with unblinking eyes.

"Marvelous,” he breathed. “Look at it. That black pelt. Those eyes. This is the one. You’ve done it, Miss Ross.” He grinned up at Nadine like a boy given the greatest of presents. “I’m doubling your rate. It is far less than you deserve.”

Nadine at once felt uncomfortable with the idea, but as a business, Shoreline could not afford to refuse. There were men to pay and future jobs to be funded. Still, the idea of taking his money made her stomach turn.

Asav stood, and vigorously shook Nadine’s hand. “Thank you, Miss Ross. Once the money is prepped for transfer, I’ll be calling to make arrangements for shipment. In the meantime, please do take the utmost care with my prize. Your hospitality, I’ve heard, is far better than the standard. Spare no expense. Only the best for my panther, understand?”

In answer, Nadine simply nodded, and gave Orca an intent look that meant, _Follow those orders or else_. Orca nodded, and left to round up the rest of the lingering men to start doling out orders.

Alone now with Asav, Nadine watched out of the corner of her eye as the man approached the cage to an almost dangerous proximity, and then began to speak to the panther in a quiet tone. Nadine had to struggle to hear him.

"...didn’t think I would ever see you again,” he was saying fondly. “I’ve missed you, my dear. It has been such a long time, after all. Did you really think you could hide from me?” He grinned in a way that made Nadine’s scalp prickle. The panther hissed and spat at him, yowling like an oversized streetcat in the back of its throat, its tail gone thick as a bottlebrush.

Asav reached into the pocket of his slacks and withdrew a closed fist. Nadine could not see exactly what he was holding. Boldly, he reached out and placed the item—a small, golden figurine of some kind—just outside of the bars of the cage.

"I thought you might like this back—” he said, but then the panther snarled and whipped its paw outwards, striking the little figurine and sending it ricocheting across the cement floor of the warehouse. It struck a pallet and bounced under a stack of supplies.

Asav _tsked_ , as though at a misbehaving child, but his grin was wider than ever. He stood slowly, entirely pleased with himself, took one last look at the animal, and then said, almost under his breath, “It’s so good to see you again, Chloe.”

Nadine swayed. It felt like all the air in the room had just disappeared, leaving her alone in a silent, deadly vacuum, straining for breath.

Chloe? Chloe, the name the naked woman in her dream had given her? It couldn’t be. That meant—

That meant—

Ignorant to her inner plight, Asav nodded farewell to Nadine and then strode briskly back out the bay doors, where Orca was waiting to escort him to his vehicle. Nadine stayed behind, not daring to move, staring blankly into the cage. The panther had stopped its growling and slunk back to its customary corner, its body turned away from her, as if it were sulking unhappily.

For a very long time, Nadine simply stood there, and watched the animal. It was, and appeared to be, a wild Bengalese black panther and nothing more. And yet…

With slow, quiet steps, she approached the cage, and crouched by the bars, as Asav had done only a few minutes ago. A cold sweat had formed across her body. Her heart was still racing in her chest. The wound on her neck itched more than ever. She was about to something very, very stupid.

If… If she was wrong about this…

"Chloe,” she said, very quietly—

—and the panther turned its head slightly and looked at her, right in the eyes. Nadine went utterly still, as though in shock. The panther, similarly, did not react, other than to flick a stray whisker. The air between them thickened, until Nadine could barely breathe.

With careful deliberation, Nadine reached forward, and put her left hand between the bars of the panther’s cage, her arm fully outstretched. And then she waited.

One of two events would possibly happen now.

First, she would be mauled. Badly. The panther would shoot forward and sink its three-inch long fangs into her wrist and forearm and shake her like a rag doll, breaking her bones and, at the very least, dislocating her shoulder. If it could pull her partways through the bars, it would bite her throat, crush her larynx, or even snap her spine with one powerful shake of its formidable neck muscles. She’d die of trauma if she didn’t die from blood loss first.

The second possibility, however, was more frightening to Nadine, despite how implausible it seemed.

The panther, for its part, blinked at her, ears perked. It appeared, if Nadine had to wager a guess, surprised. For a second or two, it seemed to hesitate, then suddenly stood. At the movement, Nadine nearly retracted her arm, but forced herself not to move. So close, the panther’s beauty, strength, and grace took her breath away. Its gleaming pelt rippled as it strode across the cage to her, muscles bunching and flexing beneath its rich black fur.

Closer, it came, until Nadine could feel its warm breath on the tips of her fingers. A stiff whisker poked her knuckle. Her hand, she noticed, was visibly trembling. Still, she did not move, but held her breath, and waited _—_

A broad skull big as Nadine’s two palms put together butted itself against her splayed fingers. Like a great big housecat, the panther purred thunderously and pressed hard against her hand. She actually had to brace herself so the beast didn’t knock her over with its enthusiasm. Once she was sure the animal wasn’t about to tear her arm off, Nadine began to tentatively scratch between its warm, furry ears and under its heavy-jawed chin, her fingers sinking deep into its thick pelt. The panther groaned in appreciation and plastered itself against the bars separating them, purring so hard it was almost a full-body growl. Nadine felt faint. To have such a large, powerful creature so close, to actually touch it… It was magnificent.

 _The panther?_ Chloe had said last night, and laughed at her, baring those oddly sharp-looking white teeth of hers. _Why, she’s right here._

"I’m sorry,” Nadine whispered shakily. “That I didn’t believe you.”

The panther, of course, did not reply. Instead, a wet, raspy tongue began to lick at her outstretched hand. Within only a few seconds, her fingers were soaked in panther spit. The sensation was odd and ticklish, and Nadine laughed abruptly, something she hadn’t done in a long time, and never at work. Just the sound of it, bouncing around the warehouse, made her jump.

She heard footsteps, and voices of her men as they approached, arguing about what needed to be done next for the upcoming job in Madagascar, and quickly pulled her hand from the cage. The panther—Chloe, _it was Chloe_ , that naked woman, it was _her_ —made a sound of distress and poked its nose through the bars, as if begging her to stay.

"Later,” Nadine said, and the panther looked at her evenly with those intense, low-lidded grey eyes and then lay down, as if to wait.

 

—

 

When Nadine returned, it was past 10PM. She had managed to send everyone to their barracks with little trouble, though Orca had been rather more adamant than usual about having his turn again at the night watch for the panther. Nadine would have to let him take the next night’s shift. Asav had sent a message that in two weeks time, he would be ready to take the panther into his care. Nadine was not at all sure what she was going to do about that, now that certain circumstances had come to light.

The warehouse was quiet—eerie, almost. Nadine approached the cage, and was surprised that Chloe was not there. The panther stared back at her, as if equally unimpressed. At its feet, Nadine’s borrowed Shoreline shirt had been reduced to a tattered rag from its enthusiasm, scored through with errant claw marks and gone dark with panther spit, and she wondered if maybe she should give it another, as a sort of replacement for Chloe. Still, there was always the chance she had hallucinated everything up until now, so she decided to wait for the woman to appear, instead.

A slow minute went by. Nadine began to grow impatient.

"Well?” she said to the panther.

Nothing happened. The panther merely blinked lazily at her, its tail sweeping slowly back and forth.

"Go on, then,” said Nadine gruffly, feeling a bit stupid already. “It’s safe.”

Again, nothing.

"You can change, or…”

The panther continued to sit and stare. Then, as Nadine watched, it lay down and put its head on its paws.

So, then. Perhaps Chloe could not control her form at will. Perhaps it happened spontaneously, or only at a certain time of the day, or when no one was watching her as intently as Nadine was, right now.

Or perhaps Nadine was a complete and utter fool who’d had a particularly vivid dream last night, and then miraculously escaped being mauled by a wild panther due to sheer luck alone, and was now only further wasting her time, standing here in an empty warehouse staring at an animal and waiting for a naked woman to appear in its place, like a goddamn, _fokken_ idiot.

But—no. Nadine refused to believe that. Not after today, or last night. The memory of the panther’s great head pushing back at her palm gave her strength. Stubbornly, she dragged a folding chair out from a corner and set it in front of the cage. If Chloe could not come out immediately, then Nadine would simply have to wait for her. All the while, the panther watched her curiously with its low-lidded eyes, and began to faintly purr.

Nadine sat down and crossed her arms over her chest. She was prepared for a lengthy standoff. Hours, if need be. She would not move. Still, she had not slept well last night, and not at all today, and by 11:30PM, her head had begun to wobble. She started awake twice before considering a break to make herself a tea, but then grew anxious she might leave the panther without witnessing the change.

Fighting back a yawn, she took a brief moment to rub at her sandy eyes, and when she looked up, the panther was gone, and the naked woman from the night before was back, standing there in the cage, bare as ever.

 _"Jissus!_ ” Nadine cried, startled.

"China!” Chloe called out in reply, sounding delighted. Nadine faltered.

"China?” she repeated, confused. What sort of nickname was that?

Chloe shrugged affably, tipping her head to one side. “Yeah. Y’know. Mate, china-plate? So, china?”

Nadine just stared at her blankly. Chloe laughed and shook her head.

"Forget it. Must be an English thing. Thanks for waiting. I was hoping you’d stick around.”

"Told you I would, didn’t I?” said Nadine, trying not to feel terribly awkward, talking to a woman who, a few seconds ago, had been a panther. She stood from her seat on the folding chair, and took a couple steps over to the cage.

Chloe’s grin faltered for a moment. “Did you? Sorry. When I’m… you know, the other me, sometimes things don’t come across so well. Most things do, just… Anyways, it’s a nice surprise.”

 _The other you?_ Nadine wanted to ask, but didn’t. Simply standing here, talking to Chloe at all, strained her beliefs to their very limits.  “Ja,” she said instead, and then cleared her throat and looked away. Chloe was very much naked. The rag at her feet wouldn’t do to clean a toilet with, anymore, so Nadine quickly removed the one she was wearing, leaving herself sweating in another white tank top and her thick cargo pants and boots. Her shirt smelled of a long day of work, and suddenly she wished she’d thought to bring a laundered one, just for Chloe. Well, too late now. Rather than throw the shirt into the cage with her, as she’d done before, this time Nadine held it out.  

"Here,” she said, eyes politely averted.

"Oh, you shouldn’t have,” Chloe husked out, in a teasing tone Nadine wasn’t entirely sure she was fond of or not. Soft, warm fingers brushed her own as Chloe took her up on her offer, and gently pulled the shirt from her grasp. Nadine swallowed, listening to the faint rustle as Chloe dressed herself, and wondered exactly how much Chloe knew had happened earlier that day, how Nadine had pet her like a great big spoiled housecat. It was almost embarrassing now, facing her in her… human form.

 _Fokken_ hell. Human form? The fact that she could even think in those terms was—it was crazy. Insane.

Chloe sighed in a satisfied way, and Nadine glanced over, thinking she’d finished, but still caught a glimpse of a pink-nippled breast and a flash of dark pubic hair as Chloe had only done up about a third of the shirt's buttons, shrugging the collar loosely over her slender shoulders. It covered her nakedness _—_ barely _—_ but the way the hem draped over her bare hips and hung open near her cleavage made her seem even more sensual than before. The fact that it was Nadine’s shirt she was wearing made it somehow worse.

Tempted to look away again, Nadine just swallowed and cleared her throat. Quite suddenly, she had no idea what to say.

“So,” she began stiltedly. “You… You’re a…”

A smug little smirk lifted the corner of Chloe’s full mouth. “You can say it, y’know.”

Really, Nadine would rather not, for fear of shattering her already quavering grasp on reality, but now it seemed inescapable…

“The panther, it’s… it’s you.” _Fok_ , that sounded stupid, aloud. Completely ridiculous. Nadine had never felt so dumb, speaking the words into the air. “You’re the panther.”

"There,” said Chloe. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

"To say? No. To believe... “ Nadine shrugged helplessly.

"No? Not even when it’s right in front of you?” Chloe wiggled her fingers and raised a well-arched eyebrow. “I’m real, honest. Here. You can touch me again to make sure, if you want. I definitely don’t mind.”

Nadine refused to be baited. “This is crazy,” she whispered.

"Preaching to the choir, love,” Chloe replied, with only some chagrin.

“It just… doesn’t seem possible, ja?”

Chloe leaned forward, hands splayed against the bars between them, a playful look on her face. “Right. And yet, here we are.” It was quiet for a moment. Nadine studied the woman in front of her _—_ her slender form and dusky skin, the jet black of her hair, hanging in a loose curtain down her back, the U-shaped notch in her ear, and those sharp-looking, grinning teeth. Chloe’s eyes were as intense now as they were in her panther form _—_ no, even more so _—_ and Nadine could do nothing but stand there as the other woman looked her over slowly in return.

“So,” Chloe drawled, after it’d become apparent Nadine wasn’t going to speak first, “to what do I owe the pleasure of your fine company tonight?”

"I’m…” Nadine hesitated again. “I’m not sure, to be honest. I suppose I just wanted to talk. If… If you’d like.”

"That’s fine,” said Chloe. She grinned wickedly. “Not so fun as some other things I can think of, but I’ll humor you. Been a while since I’ve held a proper conversation, though. Might be a bit rusty.”

Dozens of questions crowded forward at once. Nadine picked one at random. “Who are you, really?” she asked. A name _—_ Chloe Frazer _—_ was one thing. She wanted more.

Chloe put a hand to her chest, mock-offended. “You mean you’ve never heard of me? I’ll have you know I’m one of the best, most renowned treasure hunters the world over!”

Nadine’s eyes narrowed. Treasure hunter? Who in their right minds called themselves that anymore without a hint of irony? “You mean you’re a thief,” she declared.

"Oh, please,” Chloe replied with a wave of her hand. “Toh-may-toe, toh-mah-toe. I’m a… collector of antiquities. Or, I was, I suppose.” She grimaced, then covered it with another smile.

Nadine crossed her arms over her chest, not missing the appreciative look Chloe gave her muscled forearms and biceps, dampened by a light sheen of sweat from the South African heat. She had turned the air conditioning off a few hours ago, so Chloe would not be too cold, as she had been last night. “What kinds of treasure did you steal?” she asked with deliberate bluntness.

"Oh, old things mostly,” Chloe replied. “Artifacts. Baubles. Things museums liked, and private collectors liked more. Things people were willing to pay top dollar for. And if someone else owned it already, well… That just made it all the more fun.”

A frown creased Nadine’s brow. So, a treasure-hunting thief who turned into a panther for most of the day, then changed to her actual form for a limited time in the dead of night? It seemed a strange affliction, at the very least. Nadine rubbed at the back of her neck and gave Chloe another quick once-over.

"Why can’t the cameras see you?”

Chloe blinked at her in confusion. “Cameras?”

Pointing, Nadine picked out the security cameras aimed at the cage. “On the feed, you’re not you. It just shows a panther, not… Not a woman.”

"Ha.” Chloe looked impressed for a moment. “Must come with the package, love. I haven’t the slightest.”

Which explained absolutely nothing.

“That aside,” Nadine said, willing to let that go for now, “I’m going to guess this isn’t…usual for you.” She paused. “Changing into a panther, I mean.”

"Don’t think it’s usual for anyone, really,” laughed Chloe. “You could say it’s a bit of a, ah, newer development for me. Can’t say I’m all for it, either. D’you how bloody annoying it is to wake up naked everywhere? A couple times, fine. Who hasn’t, really? But every night? Gets old fast, take it from me.”

"So, what happened, then?” Nadine asked, curious. What could possibly have caused Chloe to be subjected to such a transformation?

"Dunno,” said Chloe with another infuriating smile. “Must be magic.”

Nadine snorted in disbelief, then took a wild guess, not bothering to disguise the sarcasm is her voice. “Ja? You steal a treasure you shouldn’t've, and get yourself cursed, or something like that?”

There was a long, awkward beat. Nadine blinked, and realized Chloe seemed abruptly uncomfortable, the teasing light fading from her bright grey eyes. _Fok_. She must’ve hit much closer to home than she’d meant to. She opened her mouth to apologize, or change the subject, when the other woman said, flippantly, “That’s… Look, explaining it would _—_ ”

"Forget it,” Nadine said quickly. “You don’t have to—”

“Let’s just say it’ll be a story for another time,” said Chloe. She had, Nadine noticed, winced when Nadine had used the word _curse_. While it was a telling reaction, it wasn’t an actual admission. Nadine would not push. Not tonight, at least. Chloe gave her another disarming grin and played with the hem of her borrowed shirt, stroking the rough material between her fingertips. “Can’t reveal all my secrets on the first date, y’know. Gotta keep a little mystery about me.”

"Right,” Nadine grunted. “Because you don’t have plenty of mystery already.”

"Why, thank you,” Chloe preened, as if she’d just been given a flattering compliment.

"Today, you… You knew Asav, didn’t you?” Nadine said suddenly. It had been obvious, earlier, with the violent way the panther had reacted to the man. There was no way to deny it. Or had that simply been the animal, and not Chloe at all? Were they separate beings, or one and the same? Where did the line between them cross, or end?

"Mm,” said Chloe, sounding reticent. So, something else she didn’t want to talk about, then. Nadine was quiet, but then Chloe supplied with some reluctance, “Suppose you could say he’s an old friend of mine.”

"Friend.” Nadine felt annoyed. Talking to Chloe was not revealing anything. In fact, all she’d found so far was more secrets. She’d been hoping that tonight she would learn the truth of what was going on, and yet she’d gotten nowhere. She shook her head, frustrated, and put her hands on her hips. “Ja, if you say so.”

At that, Chloe perked. “My turn for the questions, now?” Nadine shrugged. Why not? Chloe, of course, seemed overjoyed. “Alright. First things first. You never did give me your name the other night, china. Pretty rude of you, if you think about it. Or would you rather I just keep coming up with nicknames? Bet I could think up some good ones, alright."

Nadine paused. She was somewhat sure Chloe had heard her name said aloud at some point in the past few days, spoken either by one of her men or Asav himself, but decided to play along. For the second time that day, she extended her hand into the bars of the cage. This time, it did not tremble at all.

"Nadine Ross. Head of Shoreline. _Bly te kenne._ ”

"Ah.” Chloe reached out and shook her hand politely. Her palm was warm and callused and her grip felt stronger than Nadine had anticipated. Touching her, acknowledging that this was a very solid, very real person in that cage, was disconcerting. Nadine released first, and Chloe put her now-empty hand on her hip and jerked her chin at her. “So, Nadine, tell me. How’d a woman like you get into something as awful as poaching?”

At that, Nadine’s spine went stiff, and her jaw clenched, hard. A rush of irritation rippled through her. She felt her face flush, and fought to keep her expression neutral. _Poaching_. _Fok_ , she hated that word. It never failed to rankle her.

“What I do,” she said at once, trying to keep her tone civil, “it isn’t poaching.”

Chloe frowned, theatrically confused. Nadine didn’t buy it for a second, and felt another pulse of annoyance. She did not like being patronized. “It’s not? You—your company, I mean, hunts exotic animals for clients on the black market. Least, that’s what I’ve gathered from my stay so far. Not that I’ve actually _seen_ any other animals here, but I can certainly smell them. Do you know how strong a panther’s nose is?”

“There are other animals,” Nadine confirmed, “in the other warehouses. And yes, we do sell them, but—”

“Well, isn’t that what poaching means,” Chloe interrupted, “or have I been away from society so long that the word’s changed?”

"I don’t kill them,” Nadine said firmly, aware she sounded very defensive, and not liking it in the least. “The animals. I—we—Shoreline only catches and sells them. Alive.”

Chloe narrowed her eyes, as if in disbelief. “Alive? Really?”

"I would never—” Nadine started, and then cut herself off, feeling her temper rise to a rolling boil. She took a breath. “Yes, alive.” At Chloe’s disbelieving silence, she said, “Don’t you think, if I made a habit of killing wild animals, that I’d have had you shot, that day we caught you in the jungle? You killed eight of my men.”

The news did not seem to faze Chloe, though her goodnatured smile faded and her eyes darkened the slightest bit. She looked away from Nadine. “Suppose,” she said lightly. “Don’t remember much of that, though. Tends to get a bit murky when it’s the other me. Sort of like a dream. Everything’s instinct, specially when it’s—when _I’m_ scared. I can’t—I can’t even control—” She fell quiet, biting her lip, face gone tense, and squeezed her eyes shut for a brief moment, as if in pain. Finally, she said, “Sorry about those guys. I’m sure they were… Well, probably not the greatest, but still. Sorry.”

Nadine was quiet. She’d done her mourning for her men. They had known what they were signing up for, back then. Still, she felt as though she needed to clarify her company’s intent, and her own, personal motives, to this woman, this… stranger.

“Shoreline is entirely humane. We don’t hurt the animals we capture. We—”

A short, loud laugh erupted from Chloe’s throat. It sounded mean, and bitingly cruel. “No?” She shrugged her slender shoulders, and her borrowed shirt slipped off her shoulder, baring the fading bruises around her neck, which Nadine had been attempting to ignore until now.

"That was a mistake,” she said firmly. “I fired the men responsible.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that it still happened.”

“I don’t allow my men to harm the animals in any way—”

“No, you just hunt them down and auction them off to God-knows-who, and then say it's not poaching because you don’t chain ‘em up yourself. Sure sounds like the same thing to me, love.”

"It’s _not_. The animals—”

"You have no idea what happens to them, afterwards, do you?” Chloe said. Her tone was challenging and infuriatingly firm. “You catch them, and you sell them, and then you forget all about them, and pat yourself on the back for it. Do you even know who you’re selling those animals to? What might happen to them, once they’re gone from here? They could be _eaten_ , for all you know. Slaughtered for their exotic meat for bloody _tourists_ , looking for a thrill. Or used for target practice by some spoiled rich kid with a taste for guns. Or torn into pieces for their bones or their teeth or their bloody _spleens_ for—for ancient medicine or some tripe like that. Ever think of that?” By the end of her tirade, her words were coming out as a low growl, and for a moment, Nadine nearly imagined it was the panther there, facing her, snarling as fiercely as it had at Asav, and felt a thin thread of fear wind its way around her chest. “You think you’re better than _real_ poachers,” Chloe went on, “just because you’re _nice_ to the animals? Ha. Call it what you want, love. You’re the same as them. End of story.”

Nadine found she had no reply. She was, in fact, so angry she wanted to hurt someone. She imagined it, then—hitting Chloe. Balling up a fist and punching her right in the face. And then, afterwards, looking down at her, slumped on the ground, nose bloody. She wanted to do it so badly it made her sick, her stomach squeezing in one big, twisting knot.

But she did not hit Chloe. She did not yell or threaten or argue with her. Instead, she reached into the pocket of her cargo pants, and extracted the little golden figurine Asav had tried to hand Chloe earlier. It was, she’d discovered, a tiny statue of an elephant-headed man on a lotus-shaped throne. The Hindu god, Ganesh—she’d looked it up. It seemed no worse for wear after Chloe’d batted it across the warehouse floor, though one of Ganesh's tusks had, regrettably, been chipped off.

Nadine set the figurine on the floor between them, where Chloe could easily reach it.

“This is yours, I think,” she said in a blank tone. She’d crawled about on hands and knees like an idiot for over twenty minutes earlier that evening, hunting the stupid thing down after it’d bounced out of sight. Now she was angry she’d wasted her time. Still, she wasn’t so petty she’d keep it from Chloe now, no matter how upset she was with her. Probably, it was precious to the other woman. A memento of sorts, maybe. “Asav was cruel, before, when he gave it to you, but I figured you might really want it back. Do what you want with it. I don’t care.”

Chloe’s sour expression drained away, leaving her face pale and wan and stricken. Her eyes snapped up from the little figurine to Nadine’s face and back several times, her mouth opening and shutting.

“Nadine, I—”

“After all,” Nadine grated. “I’m just a heartless poacher, aren’t I?”

With that, she turned on her heel and stalked off, her boots clapping loudly on the cement floor. Chloe made a sound of protest, but Nadine didn’t stop, or turn around, or falter at all in her determined stride. Clearly, this woman found her disgusting, so Nadine would not keep her company any longer. It had been stupid of her to think they could be something even approaching friends. Nadine Ross, head of Shoreline, did not need friends. She had her men, and her company, and that was all. Nothing else mattered, especially not some woman who was not even a woman at all.

She made sure, before she stormed upstairs and shut herself in her barracks, to radio for a replacement for the panther’s night watch. It would not do to leave their prized catch unsupervised. It was, simply, far too valuable for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> today's word is "memento." 
> 
> don't have anything witty down here to say this morning. this fic is wiping me out. maybe next time!


	3. THREE

Nadine woke grouchy and with a throbbing headache late the next morning. She’d slept poorly, and dreamed in smudges and blurs, but as she had not received any frantic early-hour radio calls about a naked woman in the cage from Knot, her replacement for watch, she guessed Chloe had switched back to her panther shape before he had arrived. Had that been blind luck, then, or something Chloe could consciously control? She felt inclined to believe the former, but wasn’t sure.

Again, Nadine was annoyed by how little she’d learned, speaking with the other woman last night, and then foolish, for doing something so brash and immature as leaving Chloe to potentially be discovered by the others. It had been a mistake—a bad one. Nadine told herself she would be more careful in the future, that she wouldn’t do something so foolish again, even if she was angry with Chloe. Which she still was, very much.

With some effort, she did not check in with Chloe first thing in the morning, but headed outside, to check up on her company’s dealings and goings on, and to interact with the men who served under her, as she should be doing as Shoreline’s acting and only leader. She needed to keep up appearances, and it would do the men good to see their boss out and about, cracking orders and knocking heads as she always did.

The yard was busy as usual, Shoreline trucks and flatbeds waiting patiently as forklifts offloaded empty crates and supplies from their most recent successful captures and field surveys. Faintly, she could hear the muffled ruckus from the other warehouses, where the majority of the animals were being housed, waiting for shipment to their proprietors.

Normally, hearing the deluge of chirping, scratching, yipping, and growling did not bother Nadine—it had, at some point, simply become another part of her daily routine. This morning, however, it disturbed her to the point of distraction. Trying to lend a hand to the boys moving their equipment about, she nearly backed a Shoreline truck into the side of a building, so bothered by the sound. Thankfully, nobody noticed—or dared to call her out on it—and soon after, she radioed Orca to take over, and then went to her main office to complete paperwork, which she usually hated, and put off as long as possible. The quiet of her office was a brief respite to the cacophony outside. Yet, sitting there in the stuffy silence, she felt as though she could still hear the faint, pitiful cries of the animals outside.

It was 2PM before she realized she’d gotten virtually nothing done. Her pile of paperwork had been shuffled about and dashed with a few lines from her pen, but little else had been completed. She sat up and forced herself to concentrate. The topmost paper was the contract she’d drawn up between her and a rich businessman from the states. Nadine found herself staring intently at his flourishing signature—a _Mr Rafe Adler_ —and realized she knew next to nothing about the man, other than that he had quite a lot of money, and wanted something from her that would be illegal for either of them to possess. She did not know if he was kind, or cruel. If he wanted the animal as a pet, or a meal, or simply a target to inflict pain upon.

Disgusted, she shoved the papers away and sat back. How had she ignored this for so long? Willingly, she’d kept herself ignorant, played dumb, telling herself that so long as she did not harm the animals herself, then her profession was acceptable, and—

Her radio blipped, and she jerked in her seat with a quiet swear.

"Boss?” came a staticky voice. Knot.

Nadine unclipped the handheld from her belt and raised it. “What is it?” she answered, not bothering to hide the surly edge to her tone.

"U-um,” said Knot, voice already wavering with nerves. Not a good sign. “We, uh, the…”

 _"Fokken spoeg dit uit_ ,” Nadine snapped, and did not feel bad in the slightest when she literally heard him flinch over the line.

"T-the panther, ma’am. I think—I think something’s wrong with it.”

Nadine stood so fast her chair fell over with a clatter. “What?”

"Something’s—”

" _Fokken—_ I _bladdy_ heard you. Where are you?”

"W-with the pan—”

"Don’t _fokken_ move.”

She stormed from her office and into the warehouse with such an expression that several men ducked quickly out at a jog, as if anxious to escape her impending wrath. Nadine ignored them, and marched straight for the panther cage, where Knot was standing, looking unsure and not a little nervous.

"Well?” Nadine snapped impatiently, and then looked in the cage, and fell silent.

The panther, who had until now spent most of its time taking respite in the cage's back corners or the high-set covered shelters, was sprawled out on the floor of the cage in plain sight. It looked absolutely nothing like the ferocious beast from yesterday, who’d snarled and swiped at Asav, all coiled muscle and primal violence, or even the creature that had stalked and killed eight of Nadine’s best men. Its eyes were open, but dull and glazed. Its tongue hung out of its mouth like a limp pink ribbon, jutting between its bottom teeth listlessly. Every few seconds, there came a deep, grumbling groan from its throat, the antithesis of a happy purr. The low, lonely sound made Nadine’s chest pang and tighten.

The panther looked, in Nadine’s professional opinion, like it’d given up. Like it had no more fight left to it, and was simply lying there, waiting to die.

“You think it’s sick?” Knot asked nervously, no doubt fearful she’d blame him if the panther had somehow fallen ill in the last twelve hours or so. But Nadine was not so convinced.

“It’s not sick,” she told him quietly.

“No?” said Knot. “...Looks sick. Hasn’t touched its food, either. See?”

Nadine looked. The panther’s food and water troughs appeared undisturbed. She realized with a twisting sensation in her stomach that, after all the confusion of finding out the panther’s true identity, she could not entirely recall if either the animal or Chloe had eaten a full meal since their arrival several days ago. When, exactly, was the last time they’d eaten? Chloe must be close to starving.

"S’worth alot,” said Knot. “Don’t want it to die on us, eh? Maybe we should, er, call a doctor.”

"No,” said Nadine. While before she had hired licensed veterinarians to treat their sick animals and afterwards bribed them to keep quiet about the exotic assortment Shoreline kept, she knew a doctor would not be able to help Chloe now. “She—it's not sick.”

“Ja, alright,” Knot finally gave in, then added, “Kinda sad, though, lookin’ at it. Probably sick of being in there, maybe. Too bad we can’t take it for a walk or something.” He laughed, as if he’d told a funny joke.

"Dismissed,” Nadine told him, voice rough. Knot didn’t argue, just saluted and left. As soon as his stuttering bootsteps faded away, she let out a shaky breath, her eyes fastened on the panther, posed like a corpse on the floor of its cage, looking so utterly miserable it was practically pathetic. Just looking at it made Nadine feel badly, and she didn’t want to feel badly about Chloe. She wanted to be angry with her for a good while longer.

Chloe was not sick, Nadine knew. Chloe was upset, and sad, most likely from their argument last night. Perhaps she even felt sorry for the things she’d said to Nadine’s face, the accusations she’d hurled without pause. Or maybe she was just sick and tired of being locked up in that cage for hours and hours on end. Nadine could not find it in herself to blame her. It had been cruel, she realized now, not to think Chloe would hate being trapped in there, even in her panther form. But it wasn’t as if Nadine could just let her out and let her wander. The boys would panic. Chloe might get shot.

She had to do something, though. The fact that even her own usually vapid men were noticing the panther’s worsening mood meant there had to be a change. Nadine was not necessarily ready to forgive the woman—not that Chloe was or could even apologize as she was now—but maybe she could at least extend a hand once more, no matter how she reluctant she felt in that regard.

After checking to make sure no one was close enough to overhear, Nadine approached the cage and stood by the bars.

"Chloe.”

Predictably, the panther ignored her.

"Chloe,” she said again, a little louder this time. The tip of the panther’s tail twitched despondently. It wasn’t exactly a reaction, but Nadine took it for encouragement. She wasn’t sure how much Chloe could truly understand her in this form, and struggled for a moment with what to say.

"You have to eat something,” she said at last. “You must be hungry.” She hesitated, and then grit out, “Please.”

The panther did not move. It made another long, low groan, as if it were in mourning. Nadine noticed, almost hidden from view just beneath its furry chin, the little golden figurine of Ganesh, and felt relieved. At least Chloe had not thrown it away again. Then she saw, bundled in the opposite corner, the tattered remains of her two borrowed Shoreline shirts. Chloe was pointedly ignoring them now. Nadine could certainly guess why, but refused to feel the need to apologize. Chloe had attacked _her_ last night, not the other way around. Still...

"Listen,” she said quietly. “Last night. I know I got angry. But I… I'm not anymore.” She nearly stumbled over the lie, and then blurted, “Alright, maybe I am still angry. But—it’s—that’s fine. I can be angry. And I can understand why you said the things you did. After all that’s happened, I can’t imagine this is easy for you.”

The panther flicked its notched ear, and turned its head slightly, so it could regard her. Somehow, Nadine knew it was listening, that it understood, and that Chloe was hearing her, too.

“Please, Chloe. I’m not—I’m not going to abandon you. Not over something like that. Is that what you think? I wouldn’t. What happened between us… Look, I get it, alright? I’ve got my own shit to sort out as well. Let’s not have that stand in the way anymore, hey?"

The panther blinked at her, its groans falling quiet. It studied her face with eerie intensity with those deep grey eyes, then abruptly got up and padded over to its feeding corner. Nadine waited with her breath held as the panther sniffed at its water trough, then gingerly began to drink. Far sooner than Nadine would have preferred, it stopped, and then nosed at the still-fresh block of raw meat nearby, snapping up a morsel no bigger than Nadine’s fist. The panther bolted the food down, licked its muzzle, and then gave Nadine a meaningful look.

 _Happy?_ she imagined it was saying.

 _Not really_ , she wanted to reply, but supposed it was better than nothing.

The panther snorted lightly and twitched its ears, then lowered its head and with visible care, plucked up the Ganesh figurine in its jaws. Then it turned and hopped into one of the sheltered corner perches, disappearing into the gloom. Barely a second later, it re-emerged, and quickly paced across the cage and snatched up Nadine’s two Shoreline shirts in its mouth, and, without acknowledging Nadine at all, returned to the corner perch and did not come back out.

Nadine sighed, though a small smile had edged onto her lips. She had hoped for more, but Chloe’s stubbornness had a certain candor to it. Still, a panther could not survive on scraps. Already, it was looking skinnier, its pelt not so luxurious as before. If more of her boys noticed, they’d grow suspicious, or worried, and Nadine would have to work even harder to divert their attention at night, when Chloe appeared. Maybe—

An idea occurred to her. Nadine went still as she thought it over, staring into the dark cage, listening as the panther breathed loudly and steadily in its makeshift shelter. There _was_ something she could do for the other woman, maybe. A peace offering, as it were. But to do it, she would have to trust Chloe, and Chloe would have to trust her. She hesitated, then checked her watch. If she wanted it to be ready for tonight, she’d have to get moving.

 

—

 

Chloe was already there and dressed in her borrowed, halfway-buttoned Shoreline shirt by the time Nadine approached the cage a bit before midnight. By now she’d grown rather confident that, while the actual times seemed to vary, Chloe changed shape somewhere between 11PM and 12AM, and changed back within 1AM to 2AM. Meaning, at the very most, there was about a three-hour window in which Chloe was in her human form, with the average probably being two or less. For what Nadine had planned tonight, that amount of time was more than enough.

“Ross,” Chloe said. She was sitting up in her corner perch, probably thinking she might have to hide if someone else was on watch and approached the cage, but jumped nimbly down as soon as she saw Nadine and came up to the bars, her face strained and pensive. “Last night—”

“Stop,” said Nadine, not unkindly. “It’s alright.”

“It’s not,” Chloe insisted. “The things I said—”

“Don’t say you didn’t mean them, because you did,” said Nadine. “But like I said, that’s okay. You don’t have to apologize.”

“I don’t want to bloody fight with you,” Chloe said, sagging against the bars unhappily. She sounded tired, and sad. “Christ. First person I get to talk to in forever, and I go and mouth off like that. Here I was, thinking, _finally_ , someone on my side, y’know? I really am—”

“Frazer,” Nadine said softly. “It’s fine.”

Chloe bit her lip, then nodded. “Alright. I’m—I’m glad you’re here.”

Nadine tried for a joke. “What, Knot’s no good for conversation?”

“He’s certainly got nothing on you,” Chloe said warmly. Nadine felt herself flush, and then felt confused, since she’d been angry with Chloe until now. How this woman could make her emotions flip about so drastically in such a short space of time was beyond her.

“So,” said Chloe, looking a bit more like herself than before, though still skittish. “What’s the occasion? Just visiting? Or, do you want to ask more questions?” She looked eager to answer them, as if to make up for their argument last night.

"No.” Nadine shook her head. While she did have questions—many, almost too many to count—they could wait, for now. From her pocket, she extracted a set of keys on a ring. “I’m—I’m going to trust you, here.” Chloe saw the keys and went still. She even looked as though she was holding her breath. Nadine took a step closer, and Chloe flinched. “I’m going to let you out, just for now.”

"Out?” Chloe croaked. Her expression grew wary. “What’s the catch?” She grinned to hide her nerves, and joked, “You want me to wear a muzzle or something?”

"No, nothing like that,” Nadine said. “I thought, maybe…” _Jissus_. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. This was either the dumbest thing she’d ever done, or the kindest. “I have sort of an apartment, upstairs. You, um…” She paused, and Chloe looked at her beseechingly. It gave Nadine the strength to finish, “You want a shower, maybe?”

Chloe’s face went completely blank. She stared at Nadine speechlessly for almost ten full seconds, lips parted in shock. Nadine was about to reach out and shake her when she drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes, face gone slack.

“That,” she said slowly, eyelids fluttering, “would be _bloody_ _fantastic_.”

 

—

 

If it were possible, Nadine knew, Chloe would probably spend the entire time she had in her human form tonight in the bathroom, under the shower’s pounding spray. Regrettably, they were on a limited schedule, and forty-five minutes into Chloe’s roughly-two-hour window, Nadine knocked politely on the bathroom door and said, “How about you save me some of that hot water, Frazer?”

Behind the door, Chloe laughed deliriously, the light, bubbling sound bouncing off the vinyl-tiled walls in a warm echo. A few seconds later, the water shut off, and Chloe called back, “I swear to _Christ_ , I’m kissing you when I come out there. That was amazing.”

Nadine flushed again, knowing it was a joke but feeling awkward all the same. “Just, hurry up,” she growled out, then realized what she’d said, and grimaced. Chloe’s laughter chased her into the kitchen, where she’d begun to set up the table and chairs for company. She couldn’t recall the last time anyone other than herself had sat there. Not sure what to do while she waited, she leaned against the counter and listened to the distant sounds of Chloe drying off and stepping out of the tub.

A minute or two passed, and then Chloe emerged, wrapped in a scratchy white towel—the only kind Nadine had—her light brown skin flushed from the water’s heat and glistening damply from the apartment’s stuffy humidity. She looked so happy it bordered on orgasmic. Her smile was downright comical, it was so big. She saw Nadine in the kitchen and approached, then saw the plates and steaming dishes laid out on the table and went stock still.

"What’s this?” she asked.

Nadine felt suddenly self-conscious. She wasn’t the best cook, having survived on MREs and field rations for most of her adult life, but it was difficult to get the basics of _boerewors_ and _chakalaka_ wrong. Finding the ingredients among Shoreline’s limited supplies had been harder than actually preparing the meal itself. Still, it looked a bit pathetic, there on the table. Her mother—may she rest in peace—would’ve clouted her for presenting such a ragged assortment to a… a what? A friend? Acquaintance?

Shaking her head, Nadine said quickly, “Figured it’d been a while since you had proper food, is all. If—if I’d thought it through, I’d have gotten more things. Fruit, or sweets, maybe. This is just what we had lying around. Sorry.”

Chloe was silent. Then she laughed wetly, and her eyes actually filled with tears. Nadine stiffened, suddenly terrified she’d done something wrong. Chloe clapped a hand over her mouth and seemed to reign herself back. Sniffling, she said, “Can’t remember the last thing I had that wasn’t just raw meat, actually. Thank you. Oh, Nadine. Thank you.”

"Ja,” said Nadine, stuffing her hands in her pockets and trying to appear nonchalant. Really, her heart was pounding. She was pleased Chloe looked so happy, and that she’d stopped crying. Chloe wiped at her eyes, laughed again, and then looked about, probably for the old Shoreline shirt she’d been wearing until now.

"Oh.” Nadine reached under the kitchen table and retrieved a paper bag she’d put there earlier. “I, uh, brought you these.”

Chloe took it curiously and opened one end, her expression transforming into wondrous awe.

 _"Christ_ ,” she breathed out. “Real clothes. Oh, china, you’re the _best_.” Then, without an ounce of shame, she dropped her towel and tore the bag apart. Nadine grunted and turned around, trying—and failing—not to immediately picture what she’d just seen.

“There we are,” Chloe said triumphantly, a few moments later, and Nadine turned back around.

Now that she wasn’t naked anymore, or half-covered by a borrowed safari-shirt emblazoned with Shoreline’s tri-colored logo, Chloe appeared almost... normal: standing there in Nadine’s kitchen, she seemed a very pretty grown woman dressed in a soft red t-shirt and blue jeans. Nadine had even gotten her underwear, and a proper pair of boots. She was glad she’d managed to pick all the correct sizes, though Chloe might need a belt if she lost any more weight. Noticing Chloe playing with her loosely brushed hair, gone the slightest bit frizzed by the humidity, Nadine found her a few bobbie pins and an elastic, and watched as the woman gathered her thick black hair behind her neck and did it up into a neat, low ponytail.

"Almost feel like a person again,” Chloe said wryly, and smiled at Nadine with an almost blinding gratitude. “I mean, I know I’ll have to take it all off again in ‘bout…” she glanced at the clock, “oh, bit more than an hour, but still. Thanks. Really.” An uncharacteristic shyness overcame her expression. “Can I—please say I can hug you, or something.”

Nadine blinked. She had not expected that. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had willingly touched her, and shrugged as though it wasn’t a big deal, though her heart rate immediately began to climb again. If that was how Chloe wanted to convey her thanks, she wouldn’t stop her. “Ah. Sure. If you like.”

Not even a second later, Chloe had her arms around her middle and was squeezing her constrictingly tight, her face turned against the bulk of Nadine’s shoulder. She was warm and solid and smelled clean and yet the slightest bit musky. The breathlessness Nadine felt at her closeness had nothing to do with the firm grip Chloe had on her torso. Very carefully, her rounded her own arms over Chloe’s shoulders, highly aware that this was only the second time she’d touched her, since discovering her secret. It felt… nice. When Chloe did not let her go right away, Nadine settled into the embrace, and let her chin rest on the side of Chloe’s neck. Her damp hair was pleasantly soft and fragrant against her cheek.

"I’m sorry,” said Chloe suddenly, voice muffled by Nadine’s shoulder. Her breath was warm, coming out in irregular puffs against Nadine’s bare skin. It occurred to her, at that moment, that if Chloe were to turn her head, she would be touching the very wound she had caused only a few days ago. The diagonal slash was still healing, and itched off and on, and would leave a scar. Nadine found she did not particularly mind that. Chloe, after all, had merely been defending herself. “About yesterday. I—I said some things that—”

"No, _I’m_ sorry,” Nadine said over her. “I got upset. I… What you said, it—it’s true. I just... didn’t want to hear it.”

Chloe pulled away slightly and looked at her. They were, Nadine noticed, just then, exactly the same height. “Nadine—”

"You were right,” said Nadine, though it pained her to admit. How long had she been lying to herself, thinking she was not a poacher like the rest? Perhaps it was past time to admit the truth, even if it made her ashamed. “I take pride in what I do. That I can catch all these animals, and not hurt them. But what do I know, what happens afterwards?”

It was quiet. Nadine could tell Chloe wanted to protest, or maybe just argue some more, and headed her off with a soft, “Food’s going to get cold.”

A hungry, arrested look came over Chloe’s face. “I could eat a horse,” she admitted, and grinned, showing off those straight yet-sharp looking white teeth of hers. Chloe released her, and sat, eyeing the meal with visible excitement. “Smells great.”

"I’m not a chef,” said Nadine, joining her at the table. “But I hope you like it.”

"Really, Nadine, I appreciate—”

Nadine waved a hand. “Enough. Just eat, already.”

Chloe gave her one last thankful smile, and then fell upon the food with a voraciousness Nadine had never witnessed before in a human being. She ate everything on her plate in less than five minutes. Afraid she’d get sick, Nadine made her wait before serving her seconds, and then, after some heckling and outright begging, thirds. Finally, Chloe was so full, she simply lay her head on the table, clutching her stomach in her hands and groaning every so often in satisfaction.

"China,” she said faintly. “That was the best thing I’ve ever eaten. You’re a bloody saint.”

Nadine smiled, pleased with herself and her plan, which had turned out to be as much of a success as it could be, and then felt nervous, her eyes returning, again and again, to the clock on the wall, knowing that soon, she’d have to put Chloe back in the cage downstairs. If it were possible, she would never lock her up again, but the panther, while mostly calm for a wild animal, was still unpredictable. Nadine simply could not risk an incident, especially if her men were to become aware of the situation.

Luckily, Chloe seemed to catch on without prompting, and, at about quarter to 2AM, let out a big sigh before standing. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

Nadine wished it were different. That she didn’t have to treat Chloe like an animal. It was quickly becoming something she hated, but could not avoid. Like paperwork, only much, much worse.

Together, they walked downstairs. Chloe entered the cage in silence. Locking it up after her made Nadine feel ill. She watched as Chloe stood there for a moment, eyes closed.

"Can you tell?” she asked quietly. “When you’re about to change back?”

"Sort of,” said Chloe. “Get sort of tingly, and sleepy. I can feel it now.” She gave Nadine a sad smile. “Thanks for dinner, china. It was great. See you later?” In her tone was such hopefulness Nadine simply had to nod.

“Ja.”

Chloe smiled again, and then began to undress. Nadine looked away, and from the corner of her eye, watched as Chloe stashed her new clothes in the hidden corner perch, where Nadine’s men wouldn’t see them, and then hopped up after it.

Only a moment later, two slitted grey eyes peered out of the darkness at Nadine. Chloe was gone. The panther had returned. She heard a low rumble, and then the eyes closed as the animal went to sleep.

"Good night,” Nadine said, and then walked away, feeling horrid and sick and every bit a gutless coward.

   

—

 

Early the next morning, Nadine received unexpected news that the Shoreline capture party sent to Madagascar for their next job had been delayed by equipment breakdown. Knot’s men were having problems. To make it up to the client—a well-paying but very particular regular—and save face for her company, Nadine knew she would have to personally join the men already there and ensure there would be no further problems. It was something she had done before, many times, in order to satisfy a buyer—if she had not been stuck at the base while Orca and his men were savaged out in the Bengali jungle, she would have done the same then, too.

Still, leaving the panther and Chloe behind was something she very much did not want to do. The fact that she’d only just begun to realize that she did not particularly like her line of work also did not help.

The flight to southern Madagascar, as well as the following hunt and trip back would take, in all, nearly two full days. With luck, she could see Chloe on the evening of the second day, but only if everything went smoothly. Nadine was in such a rush to leave she did not even get to see Chloe before departing on their company cargo plane. Sitting in her lumpy chair, nauseous with worry, Nadine hoped the woman would be alright in her absence. Hopefully, Orca—who was staying behind—was not stupid or unlucky enough to approach the panther cage at precisely midnight.

Thirty-six hours later, it was finished. Mucking about in hot, sweaty jungles was something Nadine was used to by now, but did not necessarily miss. She was tired and only somewhat satisfied by their recent successful capture. She had not liked the distressed noises the animals made in their cages, and had been extra vigilant in ensuring none of her men mistreated them, as if to make up for it. It was a poor effort, in the end, and she spent the rest of her time in Madagascar in a dark mood, snapping at her men and keeping to herself, stewing in her own self-disgust.

On the flight back, she slept deeply. They landed in Cape Town a bit after 4PM, and Nadine rode with the men back to headquarters, where she radioed for a status report. Orca radioed back that he had to see her in person. Nadine felt only slightly uneasy, hearing that, and ordered him to her office.

The first thing out of Orca’s mouth when he walked in, ten minutes later, was, “We have a problem.”

Nadine, still groggy from the flight and fighting a fatigue headache, frowned at him. “What is it?”

"The panther. It… It got out of its cage last night.”

At once, Nadine was wide awake. She felt as though she’d just jumped into a tank of ice water, and could not reach the surface for air. “What d’you mean, it _got out of its cage?_ ” That made no sense. Chloe did not have keys. Nadine had kept them in the security room. There was no way the cage could be opened unless Orca or one of his men had done it, or—

"Odd thing was, ma’am,” Orca continued, looking shameful for his mistake, but terribly confused, “it looked like someone broke it out.”

"Broke it out?” Nadine repeated, dumbfounded.

“Someone picked the locks. We found bobby pins jammed in ‘em.”

Nadine fell silent, horrified. Bobby pins. Like the ones she’d given Chloe herself the other night, for her hair.

Orca took her silence as encouragement to continue. “We think someone let the panther out, then ran away. Maybe the panther attacked him, ja? We checked the tapes, but couldn’t see anyone on camera, so they musta hacked the files, too.”

“Is the panther gone?” Nadine asked curtly.

Orca hesitated. “No ma’am. Mack was on watch. By the time he realized the cage was open, and nobody was around, he went downstairs and—well, he found the panther. It was just walking around in the warehouse.”

"Did… Did it hurt anyone?”

"That’s the weird thing, ma’am. Soon as he saw the panther was loose, Mack said he locked himself in the security room and radioed for help. Tango and Blitz came in, and they all got guns and went back downstairs to find the _bladdy_ thing. I think they were ready to shoot it if it so much as sneezed at them.”

Nadine’s heart spasmed in fear. If one of them had so much as touched a whisker on that panther’s head…

"And?” she prompted.

Again, Orca hesitated. “You, ah, you might not believe—”

“Just _tell me._ ”

At her imperious tone, Orca nodded. “Mack said, soon as the panther saw him and the boys, it didn’t even blink. Just real slow turned around and walked back to its cage and got inside. Even curled up in the corner, so they could close the door and everything. You believe that? Me, I think Mack’s lying. Trying to cover up his mistake. Probably, he scared it back in—shot it with a rubber bullet, or used one a the cattle prods—and just didn’t want to admit it.”

Nadine felt faint. Her head was spinning. Why had Chloe broken out? No, that was obvious, she’d broken out because she was a human being, trapped in a cage—but why hadn’t she waited for Nadine, or asked for her help? Had she tricked her, then? Used Nadine as a means of escape and nothing more? Suddenly she felt hurt, and slightly betrayed, remembering Chloe’s teasing smiles, her playful laughter. How happy she'd looked, after the shower and the meal. And yet, Nadine was the one who’d captured Chloe in the first place, and stuffed her into that goddamn cage. Of course Chloe wanted out. Of course she didn’t trust any of them, even Nadine. Nadine had been a fool to think otherwise.

"Another thing,” said Orca, and now he just looked hopelessly lost. “I think it’s… stealing things.”

"Who?”

"The panther, ma’am.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “There were clothes in the cage, Mack said. And this little toy or something.”

Nadine just stared. “And?”

"And what? That’s it.”

"Did you have the things taken out?”

"Course not,” Orca scoffed. “I’m no idiot. If the damn thing wants that shite, it can _bladdy_ -well have it. Er, unless you want us to remove ‘em. Ma’am.”

"It’s an animal,” Nadine forced herself to say, though her tongue curled at the cruel words, and the lie caught beneath them. “Animals do stupid things. Forget about it. Sooner we get it out of here, sooner it stops being our problem.” She dismissed him, and then sat in her office for the rest of the evening, trying to think of what to do.

  
—

 

Orca, of course, was all too happy to let Nadine take over for the panther’s night watch, reluctant to repeat another near-disaster like the night before. Nadine, for her part, studiously ignored the cage and animal inside, going about her business of surveillance and security as though everything were perfectly normal, even after she was sure Chloe had already made her appearance. She wanted to see if the other woman would attempt another escape.

Fifteen minutes went by. Then twenty. Watching on the cameras was pointless—it simply showed a panther, sitting there—so Nadine waited at the window of the security office and looked down at the cage, where Chloe, much like she’d done on the night of her very first appearance, seemed to be doing yoga, or some sort of mediation exercise. At least she was dressed this time.

Expression schooled to a flat-eyed, tight-lipped canvas, Nadine walked downstairs.

“Ah, Nadine,” Chloe called out as she approached, standing from her lotus position. “Thought I smelled you, love. Where’ve you been?”

"Heard you had a bit of fun last night,” Nadine said, her tone blank.

"Just a bit,” replied Chloe, without an ounce of shame. “Wanted to stretch my legs.”

It took physical effort for Nadine not to let herself grow angry, or bitter. She clenched her fists and hid them under her folded arms.

“Told you I was trusting you, the other night,” she said. _And what did you do?_ she supplied to herself. _You took it and you threw it away. Even though I can’t fault you for doing it. Even though I wouldn’t trust me, either, after what I’ve done. I was the stupid one here, thinking you wouldn’t._

Chloe just shrugged. “Just went for a little walk, china. Wasn’t gonna run away, if that’s what you thought. It’s smarter for me to stay here, if you think about it. Odds of me getting shot are lower, though not by much. Plus, if I hang around a bit longer, I can rip Asav’s throat out next time he shows up, the prick.” She bared her teeth and gave a playful growl. Nadine was not amused in the slightest.

"Why do you hate him?” she demanded. She was tired of the secrecy, of the flippant lies. She wanted the truth. Or did Chloe simply not trust her at all, even now, after… after everything? “Why does he want you so badly in the first place? He… He knows your name. He knows who you really are, doesn’t he?”

Again, Chloe said nothing. She could not even look at Nadine, and instead studied her fingernails, and smoothed an errant wrinkle from her panther-fur-littered shirt.

Nadine felt a hot, angry surge flood her veins. “Why won’t you tell me?”

Chloe sighed loudly, and made such a face it almost looked like she really did feel sorry. “Listen, Nadine. I just—I don’t want to pull you into this, love. Believe me, you’re safer not knowing. Really.”

 _"Do I look like I need your protection?_ ” Nadine snarled back, bristling, feeling all the muscles along her torso, arms and shoulders flex and tighten and push against her clothes as her body tensed in anger.

Rather than back down, Chloe head came up as she bristled as well. She snapped, “For all I bloody know, you’re working with him.”

Nadine almost reeled. It was like she’d been slapped. That hurt worse than Chloe breaking out last night. “Are you…” she began, incredulous. “I am _not!_ ”

"You’re bloody selling me to him, aren’t you?” Chloe challenged.

Nadine faltered, and blurted, “Of—of _fokken_ course I’m not!”

Chloe stopped, surprised. So did Nadine. Shit. Even she hadn’t known she was going to say that until that very moment. Now, however, she realized it was true. She had known it ever since the very first night she’d seen Chloe—the real Chloe—in that cage. Shoreline sold animals, yes, but Chloe? Chloe was not.

"Really?” said Chloe, rightfully suspicious.

"If you were just a panther, then yes,” said Nadine. “Probably. But you’re not. You’re a person. You have free will. I’m no _bladdy_ slave-trader.”

"Huh.” Chloe blinked, looking a bit like she’d had all the wind taken out of her sails. She’d been ready to fight, and now that it’d been yanked away, she looked lost. She must not have expected that at all, which Nadine found only slightly offensive. 

It was quiet for a moment. Nadine could tell Chloe did not know what to say, and said, roughly, “That was stupid, what you did, last night. If someone had seen you—you, not the panther—you’d be dead or worse. If—if you want to go for a walk, I’ll go with you, eh?”

"Really?” said Chloe, sounding dubious. “Where would we go?”

Nadine shrugged. “Around the compound, I guess.”

"What if someone sees me?”

"I’ll…” Nadine huffed, and threw a hand up. “I’ll tell them you’re a goddamn client, alright? I don’t know. I’m just trying—”

"—to help,” Chloe finished. “I know you are, china. Thanks. And… sorry.”

" _Humph_.”

Chloe was quiet for a moment. “You’d really let me out again, even after I… you know?” She sounded breathless. Confused but hopeful. Had she really thought Nadine did not want to help her? That she was just like Asav? The pit in her stomach deepened, imagining that.

“Not tonight,” said Nadine, before Chloe could suggest it. She wanted to be honest. “I’m too angry with you, tonight, and it’s too soon after your… breakout. The boys might get suspicious. But—tomorrow. Alright?”

Chloe looked her up and down. There was something in her eyes Nadine had not seen before, something beyond her usual teasing playfulness, more of a radiating warmth the likes of which made Nadine’s heart pinch in her chest. She was not entirely sure what it was, and it frightened her.

Slowly, a warm smile edged onto Chloe’s softening face.

"It’s a date,” she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so in order for my chapters to match the prompts for chlodine week, I had to switch today's prompt with tomorrow's, and tomorrow's with today's. for the sake of this story making sense, today's word is "animals." sorry about that!
> 
> also, I guess it's Fanfic Writers Appreciation Day?? at least, it's trending on tumblr for some reason, I wasn't aware it was a thing. in celebration, send some love to all your favorite authors in all your favorite fandoms!
> 
> p.s. happy b-day wishes to tumblr user [contrivedchaos](http://www.contrivedchaos.tumblr.com), who's lucky enough to have their birthday fall on the same day as TLL's anniversary for its release date!


	4. FOUR

“So, what’s in all those, then?” Chloe asked the next night, pointing at the other warehouses ringed around the gated Shoreline property.

Nadine glanced over. The South African night was muggy and warm, even now, at half past 11PM, and both her and Chloe were damp with sweat but happy to be outside, where there was a light breeze. In the late hour, Cape Town was a murmuring buzz in the background, the flickering lights of the city glowing on all sides of the purplish-black night sky, the brackish smell of the nearby ocean lingering at the end of each taken breath. While she could not feasibly take Chloe outside the secured compound—changing back to her panther form in public would, realistically, incite a panic or worse—Nadine had been amiable so far in Chloe’s curious wanderings. Of course, walking around a single warehouse would indeed get boring after awhile for anyone, so she could understand Chloe’s itch to explore further.

"Want to see?” Nadine offered, and felt a trickle of excitement. Catching her uplifted tone, Chloe arched an eyebrow curiously and nodded.

"If it’s alright. Don’t want you to get in trouble, now, do we?”

At that, Nadine grinned. She liked sharing moments like this with Chloe, where she could feel the camaraderie growing between them. Like it was their little secret, and no one else’s.

“Come on, then.” Nadine led, aiming for one of the larger warehouses, and radioed ahead to tell Snake, the man on watch there, to make himself scarce, which he did without protest. Anyone with doubts as to why a “high-profile female client” wanted a tour of Shoreline’s facilities in the middle of the night would not dare have the gall to question Nadine over it. Of that, she was sure.

Not that they’d made much of an effort into the ruse—Chloe certainly didn’t look the part, dressed in her red shirt and now ripped-in-the-knees jeans and boots. Nadine was confident she could keep the situation mostly contained, even if something were to happen, although lying did not come naturally to her. Still, it was vaguely fun, to at least pretend.

At the warehouse’s bay doors, she undid the lock, worked the latch and swung them open without fanfare, but Chloe still gasped with delight.

 _"Nadine Ross_ ,” she exclaimed with glee. “Are those _flamingos_?”

Nadine was about to answer, but Chloe had already ducked inside, rushing like an awestruck child up to the wide, netted cage where the group of a dozen or so flamingos were being kept. The birds—which had been sleeping comically upright on one leg—came awake and huddled warily away from her. “Look at them! I’ve never seen one up close like this.”

"They weren’t fun to catch,” Nadine groused, and then felt vaguely ashamed, for having any part in it at all. It was obvious they did not belong in a cage, or a warehouse, or anywhere else but the wild. Shoreline had ruined that. _She_ had ruined that.

Chloe glanced around, her expression wondrous. “Shit, Ross. That’s a lot of birds in here.”

Nadine agreed. In this warehouse, most of the exotic species of birds were kept. That meant all types of parrots, hawks, eagles, and even things like flamingos. The majority of the cages along the walls were empty at the moment—most clients preferred four-legged game, cute, furry things meant as pets.

“Then again, who the hell wants flamingos?” asked Chloe, her face screwed up with confusion.

"Some rich resort owner,” answered Nadine, trying to recall the details of their contract. “Think he wants his property to look tropical or some nonsense like that.”

Chloe propped her elbows on the protective railing surrounding the cage and put her chin on her fist, watching the gangly birds fondly. “Pink’s not my signature color, but it works for them.”

"They’re pink because of the food they eat,” Nadine found herself saying. “If they go off their diet, they’ll turn white.”

Chloe blinked. “What?”

"We feed them an additive here. Canthaxanthin. It keeps them pink and doesn’t make them sick. Years ago, before they had the substitute, flamingos in zoos were fed carrots, beets, and red peppers to keep them pink.”

"Well.” Chloe looked back at the flamingos, which had just begun to settle down again. “Learn something new every day.”

In silence, they watched the birds a bit longer, then walked along the parallel rows to see the rest. Since there weren’t many, Nadine brought them to another warehouse, off to the side.

“Come on,” she said. “I’ll show you the monkeys.”

Chloe snorted, amused. “You seem excited.”

"I like monkeys,” said Nadine, honestly.

“You must go through so many bananas.”

"Actually,” Nadine said, “monkeys don’t really eat bananas.”

Beside her, Chloe’s footsteps stuttered. “Come again?”

“Too starchy. They eat bugs and leaves and other fruit.”

"Next you’ll be telling me the Easter bunny isn’t real,” Chloe groused.

“Oh, no. That’s definitely real.”

A high-pitched chittering erupted as soon as Nadine and Chloe entered the next warehouse. Currently, the cages were stocked with over a dozen types of small primates, all separated by species and kept far enough apart they would not stress or attack each other. Their enclosures were of healthy sizes and well-stocked with food and water.

“Hey there, little guy,” said Chloe, peering into one of the cages. “You’re a cute little monkey, aren’t you?”

"Gray langur,” Nadine corrected.

"Huh?”

Nadine cleared her throat. “Those are gray langur monkeys.” When Chloe didn’t reply, just continued to stare at her, she felt compelled to add, “I like how their faces are ringed with hair.”

Another slow smile edged its way onto Chloe’s face. Nadine felt embarrassed, but wasn’t sure why. “Tell me more,” Chloe said, but not in a mocking way, her voice soft and warm. Like she really did want to hear it.

So she did.

Before Nadine knew it, it’d been over an hour of them walking through the various warehouses, looking at the animals as she told Chloe everything she could think about them, facts upon facts upon facts.

With roughly half-an-hour to forty-five minutes left of Chloe’s human form—Nadine disliked that the change times were not precise, but random—they walked back outside, and Nadine radioed her men to return to work while she and Chloe headed back for the panther cage.

"I mean, I sort of get it,” said Chloe as they walked. “Why you take pride in it, what you do. All those animals in there—it’s a lot of work. And you can tell they matter to you. They’re well cared for. You feed them and give them decent room to move around. Can’t say that for probably anyone else on the market. But you—Nadine, you could do so much more, you know?”

"Like what?” said Nadine skeptically.

"I don’t know, just—” She stopped, and Nadine stopped too, her stomach beginning to clench. “Why don’t you just—just bloody admit it, already?”

"Admit _what?_ ”

Chloe threw her arms over her head, voice raised. “That you _love_ animals! You’re _fascinated_ by them! You know almost everything about them! You should've seen your face just now, when you were telling me all about them! Why would you ever want to—to do _that_ to them?” She gestured at the warehouses, at the dozens, if not hundreds of animals locked inside. “I just don’t get it.”

Nadine was quiet. It was a question she had only begun to ask herself very recently, and she was not sure she’d found the answer yet.

As if embarrassed by her outburst, Chloe sighed and scuffed her boot on the ground. “Look, Nadine, what I mean is—”

"My father founded this company,” Nadine said, and Chloe closed her mouth abruptly, eyes wide. “Shoreline. It was a PMC. He hired mercenaries. Trained killers. Veterans, from the wars. They were hired guns, at first. Started wars. Only fought for the winning side, no matter what that side stood for. I can’t even imagine how many people they killed, over the years.”

She paused to swallow, throat gone tight. When Chloe made no attempt to speak, Nadine went on.

“Eventually, my father got tired of killing people, wanted to set his sights a bit lower. Animals, he decided. Expensive animals. And so he started what Shoreline is now—a black market company for exotic animals of all species. When I got old enough, he taught me the business, and when I took over, I perfected it.” Again, she paused. “I took over because another poacher killed my father over a job that might’ve gotten them 3,000 _rand_. A little more than 200 dollars, American. I was twenty years old.”

“Nadine—” Chloe began.

“It’s not an excuse,” said Nadine. “Just the facts. My father, when he was in charge, used to hunt the animals and kill them, and trade the bones, hides, and meat for money. I decided we wouldn’t have any part in that, not anymore. I would catch and sell them, but that was it. I know that doesn’t make me any better than other poachers out there, but… It, Shoreline—it’s what my father left me. I was born into it; I don’t have a choice.”

She looked away, blinking furiously, and felt a warm hand rest on her forearm.

“See, but that’s the thing about fathers,” Chloe said. “They’re not us, and we’re not them. Your life is yours, Nadine. There is _always_ a choice. You don’t have to give it up just to keep your father’s legacy going.”

"But I told him I would,” Nadine said stubbornly. “That I wouldn’t lose the company, no matter what. It’s on my watch now. I can’t just—just give it up. Not like that.”

A tense silence grew between them, replacing the easy warmth from earlier. Nadine hated it, hated that she’d put it there, hated what she’d become to make her father happy, and, for a moment, hated him too.

"My father,” Chloe began slowly, pulling the little golden figure of Ganesh out of her pocket and turning it between her fingers, “was a researcher. He was obsessed with this one myth. Nobody else believed it existed, but he was so sure. He, um, pretty much abandoned me and my mum—“ here, Chloe’s voice hitched with emotion, and Nadine’s throat constricted in sympathy “—and went off to try and prove everyone wrong. And it ended up killing him.”

"What was the myth?” Nadine asked, after allowing Chloe a moment to collect herself.

"Tusk of Ganesh.” Chloe twirled the figure in a meaningful little shake, and gave Nadine a bitter smile. “He brought a partner with him, on that last search. Someone he trusted with his life, who was gonna help him find the Tusk and show the world they were right. And they did find it, you know.” Chloe’s bitter smile faded, her voice going cold. “His partner stole the tusk, and shot my dad in the back. He was dead more than a week before anyone found him. My father’s obsession killed him.”

"But—” Nadine protested. “But—you didn’t go after him? The man who killed your father? And stole the tusk?”

"'Course not.” Chloe stuffed the figure in her pocket and rolled her eyes, though they were wet with unshed tears. “I’m not bloody _stupid_.”

"If I know you like I think I know you,” said Nadine, with care. “Then I don’t believe that for a goddamn second.”

Chloe was quiet, her head turned away, but when Nadine looked at her face, she was smiling. As if she were proud, for some reason. Of who, though? Nadine? Or herself?

"Story for another time?” Nadine asked, without sarcasm.

"Let’s go with that,” said Chloe, and, as they began to walk again toward their warehouse, surreptitiously dashed a hand across her eyes. Nadine pretended not to notice.

"Well,” said Chloe brightly, once they were back inside and standing by the empty panther cage. “Can’t say I’m looking forward to another long day in there. Word of advice? Sleeping on a metal platform or a cement floor is _not_ good for your back. ‘Preciate the walk, though. It was nice.”

"I think the boys would think it very strange of me to put a mattress in a panther cage,” Nadine joked. “Otherwise I would.”

"Aw. It’s the thought that counts.”

Feeling sorry for her, Nadine offered, “I have a bed upstairs. Want to lie on it for a bit, before you run out of time tonight?” Probably, they only had half an hour or so, but—

She stopped. Chloe was grinning at her fiercely.

"What?”

In reply, Chloe gave her a smoky laugh, purring out, “Is that an invitation?”

"No, I just—” Nadine stopped, before she could make a fool of herself. Chloe’s grin was bigger than ever. “Look. Do you want to, or not?”

"Lead the way.”

Up in her barracks, it was stuffy and smelled like must. Nadine wished she’d thought ahead and made better food, though Chloe happily made do with a quick meal of leftovers, then eyed the shower longingly.

"Next time,” she announced, with an eye on the clock. Nadine nodded and showed her the bedroom, a tiny space big enough only for a double-wide cot and her military-sized duffle bag, filled with clothes.

"You sleep here?” Chloe asked, horrified.

"Only when I’m working.” Which was always, so… “Yes.” Defensively, she said, “I have an apartment in town, just don’t like being there, ja?”

Thankfully, Chloe didn’t press. When she lay on Nadine’s bed, stretching out and arching her spine with an audible series of pops and cracks, she groaned so loudly Nadine’s skin prickled.

"Oh, Jesus. This is… This is heaven, right here.” She smiled expectantly up at Nadine, who was watching her from the doorway and trying not to feel like she was witnessing something illicitly private. “Well?”

"Well, what?” said Nadine.

"Room for two, isn’t there?” Chloe patted the space on the sagging cot next to her.

"I’m fine standing.”

"Humor me, won’t you?”

Nadine hesitated. She could think of no reason to agree with Chloe, but no reason to refuse her either. She would just be keeping her company. It didn’t necessarily have to mean anything. “Fine,” she said gruffly, and came over. Gingerly, she sat, and then lay beside her.

It was awkward, initially. The cot was small, and the room was hot, so Nadine could smell herself, musky after a long day of work, and Chloe too, her scent lighter but still there, still real. Quickly, she was uncomfortable from her sweaty back pressing unpleasantly to the sheets under them. It was difficult to keep her breathing slow and steady. She hoped that Chloe could not feel the way her heart was beating fast, knocking against her ribs like someone pounding to be let in.

Neither of them spoke. In her head, Nadine began to count down the time Chloe had left, before she changed back, and tried to memorize what it felt like, laying there with her. Something touched her hand, and she barely kept herself from flinching away. Faintly, she realized Chloe had put her hand next to hers, so their knuckles were brushing. She kept very still, and felt Chloe’s hand inch the rest of the way over, until it was covering her own. Nadine swallowed thickly. Chloe had gone very quiet. Suddenly afraid she’d pull away, Nadine turned her hand around so their palms were pressed together. Automatically, their fingers interlaced.

They stayed like that for some time, only their hands touching. Nadine honestly could not remember the last time she’d done such a thing with anyone.

“Been a long time, since I touched someone like this,” Chloe mused softly, as if she’d been thinking the exact same thing. She didn’t look at Nadine, just stared up at the water-stained ceiling above them. “Since someone touched me.”

Nadine’s heart went double-time. “Oh?” she got out.

Chloe chuckled weakly. “I think, besides my phone— _Christ_ , I miss my phone—the only other thing I never wanna do without again is sex. Feels like it's been bloody forever, since I last got laid.”

Nadine gulped, blood rushing in her veins, eyes steadfast on the ceiling, very much aware that they were lying in her bed, together. She was also aware of just how attractive Chloe was, how a single look from her could make Nadine flush with excitement. And how she’d already seen her naked, multiple times.

“That wasn’t—” Chloe blurted, before Nadine could reply. Chloe’s hand clenched, then tried to let go. Nadine didn’t let her, and Chloe continued hurriedly, “Sorry. That—that wasn’t an invitation. I mean, it sort’ve was—you’re bloody gorgeous, really—but I’m not saying you _have_ to sleep with me or anything. Unless you want to. No, shit, I meant… It—it’d be nice, is all I’m saying—well, it’d be better than nice, I mean, Jesus, _look_ at you.” She covered her eyes with her free hand and gave another groan. “Just—just tell me to shut up now, please. Christ.” Under her breath, she grumbled, “A few years without human contact and suddenly I’m a stuttering teenager again.”

Beside her, Nadine went rigid, her quickly warming body abruptly going utterly cold. Had she heard that correctly? Chloe had been trapped this way for _years_?

“Chloe,” she said quietly. “How long, exactly, have you been like this?”

Now Chloe went still, as if just realizing what she’d said, what she might’ve possibly revealed. She took her hand from her face and grimaced. “I—it—it’s not your problem, china. Don’t worry ‘bout me.”

Nadine sat up. Chloe tried to let go of her hand again. Nadine refused, and held it tightly in place. “Chloe. Please.”

Sighing theatrically, Chloe flung her head back on her borrowed pillow and glared at the wall. “It’s… It’s been a while, okay?”

"What’s a while?”

"...Well, what year is it exactly?”

"Are you _fokken_ serious?” Nadine cried, aghast.

"I’m just trying to be precise! They don’t have bloody calendars in the jungle, alright? If I had to guess, I’d say… I dunno, two and a half years, three maybe?”

Nadine’s stomach curdled in horror.

At her expression, Chloe weakly added, “Give or take?”

Three years. Chloe had been stuck like this—trapped, cursed, whatever—for _three years_ , with no one to help her? “How did this happen?”

Chloe rolled her eyes, as if this whole, _live as an animal for twenty-plus hours out of the day_ thing was only a minor inconvenience.

“S’what happens when you touch something you shouldn’t. Lots of treasure in the world, china. And some very powerful long-dead people with some very powerful forces who don’t want it touched. One minute you’re you, the next… Gone.”

So, it really had been a curse, then. Nadine had been joking, before. She’d never imagined something like that could be real. Then again, she’d never imagined a woman could turn into a panther, and here she was, in bed with one.

Gazing up at the ceiling, Chloe’s eyes turned sad and wistful. “First time I woke up, after,” she said in a low voice, “I was so scared, I couldn’t even move. Just lay there, out in the jungle in the middle of nowhere, frightened out of my mind, wondering what’d happened. I thought for sure some animal was gonna come out and kill me, eat me right there. Couldn’t remember anything either. Next thing I know, it’s dark again, like I’m sleeping, but still half-awake. Everything turns into a dream, when it’s not me. I couldn’t control it, back then. The animal. Not at all. I think that was the worst part, really. No control.”

The hand in Nadine’s had gone cold and clammy. Nadine squeezed it to try and give Chloe some of her strength.

"I tried so hard, in the beginning,” Chloe said. “Every night, when I was me again, I’d head toward civilization, and try to form some kind of plan, but you can’t get far when you’ve no supplies or clothes and you turn back into a bloody panther an hour later and scare the hell out of anyone close by. I was lucky I didn’t get shot by locals. I realized, after a while, that it just wasn’t going to work. I couldn’t go get help. Even if someone tried to, I’d maul them as soon as I changed. So I went back into the jungle, and I just… stayed there, and tried to figure out what to do.”

How lonely, Nadine thought. She felt terrible. But Chloe had not given up. She could have surrendered, and let the animal side win, but she hadn’t. Not in the slightest.

Chloe’s voice was stronger now. “I had to learn how to control it. Hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, like, like jumping on some wild animal’s back and trying to get it to calm down. It’s still hard, even now. If I get scared or angry, it just takes over. Sometimes I don’t even know what’s happened, I just wake up in the middle of a bloody warzone. It’s awful. I attack anyone, even—”

“You wouldn’t,” Nadine protested.

"I already did, love," Chloe said mournfully, glancing down at the healing slash on Nadine's neck and sternum. The bandage had come off that morning. The wound still itched sometimes, or pulled tightly if Nadine lifted things or moved a certain way, but had begun to scab over with thick, dark scar tissue. In another week, Nadine probably would not notice it at all.

Anxious to soothe her worries, Nadine tightened her grip on Chloe's hand, and said, “That was an accident. Since then, with me, you—it—you’ve always been gentle. It doesn’t frighten me.”

Chloe managed a small grin at that, looking only somewhat reassured. “Good to know.”

"So,” said Nadine, after a beat. “How do we break it?”

"Break it?”

"Ja. The curse, or—whatever.”

Chloe grinned at her wickedly. “Why, true love’s kiss, of course.”

"Stop joking. I want to help you,” Nadine insisted.

But Chloe was shaking her head. Her eyes went soft. “You’re sweet, Nadine,” she said. “But I’m a big girl. I can handle it.”

Upset, Nadine grunted, “Really? By yourself?”

"Well,” said Chloe. “Me and my furry friend, if you think about it.” She laughed, but Nadine took no joy in it. She let go of Chloe’s hand and stood up. Suddenly she was  angry that Chloe had brushed her off so easily. Couldn’t she tell that Nadine was being honest? Or perhaps she could, and simply did not want her help? She was, after all, nothing more than a poacher.

"Should probably head down,” she said stiffly. “I don’t want panther hair on my sheets, ja?”

Without protest, Chloe got up and followed her back downstairs. The silence between them was palpable, but Nadine was reluctant to be the first to break it. She did not want to say something spiteful.

"Well, this is me,” joked Chloe, at the door of her cage. It was a poor attempt at humor, and her rueful chuckle showed she knew it as well. Though it was difficult, Nadine smiled at her to try and soften the blow. She wished it was easier to stay angry with the other woman, but just looking at her now—her clothes and hair mussed, smelling faintly of sweat, face rosy from the heat of the night around them—made her want to melt, somehow.

"Tonight was nice,” Chloe said, her voice low and rich and husky. “Been a while since I had a gorgeous woman dote on me. Let’s do it again sometime.” She made as if to go into her cage, then stopped, and turned back to Nadine. Their eyes met, and Nadine felt a warm shiver. She knew, at once, what was about to happen.

Chloe leaned in, lashes lowered, aiming her lips for Nadine’s cheek, but something made Nadine turn her head slightly to the side, so that Chloe kissed her on the corner of the mouth instead. Chloe went still, taking in a sharp, audible breath. For a moment, neither of them moved, their faces just barely touching, breathing each other’s air.

Slowly, Chloe pulled back to give Nadine an intense, questioning look. The light in her eyes could only be described as hungry. Nadine wavered, gazing into them helplessly. As though connected by invisible strings, they leaned in to one another, and as one, met in the middle.

Chloe’s mouth was soft and warm. She tasted faintly like the leftovers from upstairs, and a sweetness that was all her. She kissed Nadine slowly, something Nadine was grateful for, because it had been a while and she was already feeling terribly out of her element. But then Chloe came a step closer, so their fronts were touching, and Nadine felt as though a hundred electric jolts were shooting through her as Chloe’s tongue flicked out to steal into her mouth and began to twist and slide against her own. It was difficult to find the time to breathe, and before long, her head was spinning. It was like Nadine had never had a mouth before, or lips, or a tongue. Like she had only just discovered them anew, kissing this wonderful woman here in front of her.

A groan rumbled up her own throat as Chloe’s sharp teeth caught on her bottom lip. On instinct, she gripped the other woman by the hip and squeezed. Chloe gave a breathless moan and kissed her harder, until they were both gasping for air, clinging to one another. Nadine tried her best to stay quiet, muffling her gasps and moans with Chloe’s wet mouth, but Chloe had no such reservations. She sighed. She moaned. She purred. It was almost too much. Maybe, if they had more time—

But they didn’t. Not tonight, at least.

They parted with a wet, audible smack. Nadine’s heart was racing. Across from her, panting softly against her still-damp mouth, Chloe’s face was flushed, her eyes glazed.

"Will I see you tomorrow?” she asked, voice gone a bit more rough and smoky than usual.

Nadine didn’t even think, just agreed, eyes fastened to Chloe’s red lips. Already, she wanted to kiss her again. The need was almost painful. “Ja.”

"Good,” Chloe croaked, then cleared her throat, and tried again. “Good.” She drew in a slightly shaky breath and then pushed herself away with visible effort. Just as she reached the door to the cage, she paused and glanced over her shoulder at Nadine. Again, their eyes met.

It was, Nadine knew, a look of promise, between them. Of passionate intent. Of desperate need. Suddenly she felt as though she were being hunted, and quivered at the idea, as usually, out in the field, it was the other way around. Prey, she was sure, had never quite been so willing.

 

—

 

Nadine spent the next day in a daze of anticipation. When she went up to her barracks to sleep during the early afternoon, in preparation for her upcoming night shift, she noticed that her bed still smelled like Chloe, and debated whether or not to change the sheets. Deciding to keep them as they were, she slept restlessly, and woke just before evening feeling jittery and on edge. She was nervous, she realized, which was unheard of. Nadine Ross did not get nervous.

She covered it up with her usual militaristic efficiency, snapping out orders to her men to keep them occupied and setting up watches and survey teams for future work. It occurred to her, soon after, that since the Madagascar job several days ago, where she had struggled to keep herself engaged, she had not yet actively initiated another hunt or sale, neither for herself or any of her men. If Orca called her out on it, she was not sure of what she would say.

But that was a problem for tomorrow. Nadine showered, dressed, and cooked a quick, easy supper with ingredients she’d had shipped to the base, and then, with nothing else to do, sat in her office and waited for her night shift to begin.

Alone in the locked warehouse with the panther, she checked the cameras once for posterity, and then headed downstairs, to wait for Chloe. It was just past 11PM, and she was surprised when she got to the cage to find Chloe already there, waiting for her, dressed and leaning nonchalantly against the bars of her cage. They saw one another, and, to Nadine’s surprise, Chloe didn’t smile coyly at her, or make a crude, flirty joke. She seemed uncharacteristically serious. Thoughtful, almost. Nadine unlocked the cage door without prompting.

"Hi,” she said softly.

"Hi,” Chloe replied, equally subdued. Her usual playfulness was gone, replaced with a teeming, underlying tension Nadine did not recognize. Was Chloe angry for some reason, or upset?

Then Chloe came out of the cage, and brushed slowly by Nadine with clear, agonizing intent, the full curve of her breast touching Nadine’s arm. Before Nadine could react, Chloe reached back, snatched Nadine’s hand still on the cage door, and pulled her along at a rapid pace, heading straight for the stairs to Nadine’s barracks.

So. Definitely not angry.

Inside her barracks, Nadine locked her door and put her handheld radio on the table. She’d told the men earlier that she didn’t want to be disturbed tonight unless it was an absolute emergency. Probably, she’d break someone's legs if they called her now.

"Want to shower?” she asked Chloe, when the other woman tried to yank her toward the bedroom. They had the time, after all. Nadine didn’t mind waiting.

Chloe hesitated. She looked as though she’d rather not, which seemed ridiculous, compared to how badly she’d wanted a shower the other night, how long she’d spent in there.

“Probably should,” she finally said. “Don’t want to smell like leopard.” Quickly, she ducked in and kissed Nadine on the mouth. “Don’t miss me too much.”

In less than five minutes, she was done. Nadine was seriously impressed, but wisely didn’t comment. Chloe came into the kitchen wearing a towel, as she had last time, and looked appreciatively over the small assortment of food Nadine had laid out.

"Hungry?” Nadine asked. “I made _kaiings_ and _pap_.”

Again, Chloe hesitated. “Had something else in mind, actually.”

Nadine felt her heart begin to pound. “Some people say it’s better cold,” she offered. Chloe looked so grateful at that she nearly laughed.

Chloe did not kiss her and throw her to the bed, once they reached Nadine’s room. She merely sat on the cot and then lay down as she had done the night before, and put her hand out, palm up, for Nadine to hold. Pausing only to remove her boots, Nadine lay down next to her, slipping her hand over Chloe’s. Their fingers interlaced.

For a while, they simply stayed like that. Nadine listened to Chloe’s breathing, and felt her skin prickle when she noticed it coming faster and faster. She surreptitiously glanced over. Chloe’s neck had gone red and flushed, her chest rising and falling with increasing speed. Even through the material of the towel wrapped around her torso, she could see that Chloe’s nipples were hard, and swallowed thickly, feeling as her body responded in kind, as if in sympathy. _Jissus_. Was she really considering this? Sex with a… a cursed panther-woman?

No, she told herself. It was sex with _Chloe_ , this beautiful woman lying next to her, who was stronger, braver, and more resilient than anyone else Nadine had ever met.

She was done waiting. In all situations, Nadine had always preferred the direct approach, so she propped herself up on her elbow, leaned over Chloe, and kissed her, hard. Chloe gasped into her mouth and whined as Nadine’s free hand worked its way to where the end of her towel was folded and tucked under her arm, arching her back with a shaky sigh to help Nadine pull it off and away to thump on the floor. Then she was naked on the bed, Nadine looming over her, still fully clothed. Chloe put her hand on Nadine’s still-healing chest and clutched her fingers into her shirt, and didn’t stop kissing her, not even for a second.

Nadine brought their joined hands to her hip, urging Chloe to hold on to her. Chloe grabbed her belt, then slid over to the buckle, scrabbling at the catch impatiently. With Nadine’s help, they got it undone, Chloe’s nimble fingers moving immediately to the button and zipper of her cargo pants.

"Please,” Chloe rasped between kisses, as soon as Nadine’s fly was open, sounding frantic, almost, pulling futilely at the gaping waist of her pants in a weak attempt to remove them, then seized the bottom of Nadine’s shirt and tried to yank it over her head at the same time, all without taking her mouth away from Nadine's.

"Slow… down,” Nadine gasped back. “We… have time.”

Chloe whimpered again, as if pained. “Not enough." Her naked hips were already jerking against Nadine’s trousers, her soft skin chafing audibly against the rough material. To try and please her, Nadine sat up on her knees and took off her shirt. Chloe sat up with her, grabbed her with both hands around the back of her neck and kissed her again. Her tongue was soft, Nadine noted, completely lacking the almost painful sandpaper rasp of her panther form, and her bare brown skin was wonderfully smooth and creamy. This was a woman in her arms right now, not an animal. And yet Nadine could feel, beneath it all, the power of Chloe’s other body, just beneath the surface, the feral strength hidden in her slender limbs and torso. It made her hands tingle when she touched her, and her nape prickle in alarm when Chloe let out a sudden growl against her lips.

"Are you alright?” she asked, pulling back for a moment to gulp down air. Chloe’s face was flushed more than ever. Between her legs, she was visibly wet, pubic hair gone sticky and damp. Glistening threads shone off the delicate skin of her inner thighs.

"Take your bloody clothes off,” Chloe snarled, baring her teeth, then seemed to reign herself in. “Please.” There was absolutely no politeness to her tone, just a feverish need. Nadine humored her, and quickly undressed the rest of the way while Chloe did her very best to kiss her breathless, attacking her mouth with a ferocity before dropping lower to bite and nip at her muscular shoulders and the protruding lines of her throat and collarbone.

She shivered when Chloe licked her in the hollow of her neck, right across the healing wound there, making a sound as if in apology. That was where leopards delivered their killing bites. Chloe moaned, her nose pressed under Nadine’s chin, breathing deeply now, as if she were scenting her, and then, very gently, scraped her teeth across the sensitive underside of Nadine’s jaw. There was no danger, Nadine knew, but still she shuddered fiercely and felt herself grow wet and swollen and throbbing.

"I want to—” Too impatient to even finish her sentence, Chloe straddled Nadine’s hips and sat upright over her, her wet arse flush to the tops of Nadine’s thighs. She took Nadine by the hand and brought it exactly where she wanted it. Nadine watched, dumbfounded and awestruck, as Chloe pierced herself with Nadine’s fingers, two at once, with no warmup. She was so wet Nadine sunk to her third knuckle with barely any effort whatsoever.

At the sudden penetration, Chloe cried out and threw her head back, the smooth line of her neck undulating as she swallowed, eyes closed in ecstasy. Her hot, velvety insides clutched sporadically around Nadine’s fingers, and Nadine realized with a start that Chloe had just come, spectacularly fast. She’d barely even touched her. _Jissus_. Just watching her now was entrancing, Chloe’s belly and thigh muscles fluttering lightly, as though in aftershock. Then she slumped, her hair falling in a silky dark curtain over them both.

Nadine gave her a moment of reprieve, then flexed the fingers still inside her, and traced the pad of her thumb around the hard bump of her clit, sliding over and around it and back again. It throbbed under her touch in a racing beat, hard and aching. Just as she began a quick, circular rub around the swollen little nub, Chloe let out another mangled moan and, once again, went stiff and trembling. Nadine felt her clench once more around her fingers and worked her through the spasms, until Chloe collapsed against her chest in a boneless sprawl. Had she really already come again so soon after the first? She hadn’t even lasted two minutes.

“Shit, that was fast,” Chloe gasped. She laughed at herself, sounding delighted rather than embarrassed, face and neck flushed prettily, a light sheen of sweat collecting between her breasts. “Said it’d been a while, didn’t I, china? Sorry about that.”

"Don’t apologize,” said Nadine. “That was… it was beautiful.”

Chloe caught her breath, then sat up again and looked over her shoulder, at the clock on Nadine’s wall. “We’re going to have to hurry. I have a lot of things I want to do to you before I turn back.”

"Um,” said Nadine, as the light in Chloe’s eyes went dark and feral. “Alright?” She tried to retract the hand from between Chloe’s legs, and the grip on her wrist went tight.

"Stay there,” Chloe breathed out, and deliberately squeezed around her. “I want to feel you in me.” With Nadine helplessly laid out under her, she shimmied a bit to the side, so she was straddling Nadine’s thigh rather than her hips. Then Chloe leaned forward, and her knee pressed against the growing wetness between Nadine’s legs so firmly Nadine sucked in a sharp breath and went tense. It may have been three or so years since Chloe had last been touched by someone this way, but it’d been just as long, if not longer, for her. Probably, this was going to be just as embarrassingly quick.

Keeping her leg where it was, Chloe bent over her, so their mouths were in reach of each other’s, and as they kissed, lips and mouths gone sloppy by their new, quickening rhythm, she urged Nadine to move back against her, so they were thrusting in tandem, hipbones knocking, riding each other’s thighs with increasing abandon.

"Faster,” Chloe begged, and Nadine used her free hand to grip Chloe by the hip and help her thrust harder than ever. When Chloe moaned and began to fuck herself against Nadine in earnest, grinding herself mercilessly down on the fingers still trapped inside her, and the firmness of Nadine’s thigh beneath that, too, Nadine waited for an upstroke, and then slid a third finger into her. Chloe made a strangled sound, almost like a feline yowl, and dug her own thigh with more force between Nadine’s quivering legs, distracting her.

It became a game of who would come first. At first, Nadine was positive she would give in before Chloe, the beginning tingles of her rising orgasm growing warmly in her lower belly and spreading along her limbs and up her spine until her entire body felt like it was about to burst. But then she looked up, at Chloe, and saw that the other woman was seconds from another climax, mouth hanging open, eyes half-lidded and glazed with arousal. Chloe simply did not have Nadine’s patience, or her discipline. Where Nadine liked to draw it out, Chloe just wanted more, more, more.

So Nadine would give her more.

Doing her best to ignore the wicked rub of the thigh gliding across her folds, Nadine propped her own slippery leg up so Chloe could have more leverage. Chloe, the greedy little thing, took advantage of that immediately, bucking hard, her insides rippling against Nadine’s soaked fingers.

With her other hand, Nadine released Chloe’s soft hip and then smoothed her callused palm up Chloe’s trembling stomach, ‘til it reached one of her bouncing breasts. She brushed a nipple with the roughened pads of her fingers, feeling the way it caught and pulled pleasantly against Chloe’s sensitive skin. Chloe shivered in a full-body shudder, crying out and jerking away as if static electricity had snapped between them. Less than a second later, she was jutting her chest forward, desperate for more. Nadine brushed her nipple again, agonizingly slow—Chloe whimpered as though she were in pain—and then grasped the full of her breast in one hand and gave it a healthy squeeze.

"Fuck! _Fuck!_ ”

Chloe’s hips quivered and began to work even faster on her thigh. Nadine squeezed again at her breast, and then pulled, so Chloe would lean a bit lower over her. When she was close enough, she licked the firm, dangling nipple and then, when Chloe let out a gulping moan, took it into her mouth and gave it a harsh suck. She switched to her other breast when Chloe was shaking from the attention, and gave it the same rough treatment as the first. Chloe practically howled.

Thirty seconds later, Chloe came with a soundless cry, her eyes squeezed shut, mouth open. She fell forward and caught herself on a shaky arm, a bead of sweat dripping off her nose onto Nadine’s chin. She looked absolutely wrecked, covered in sweat and musk, hair in disarray, like she had been getting fucked all night, and not just for the past fifteen minutes or so, if that. Nadine allowed herself to feel a bit proud about that, at least for a moment.

Hovering above her, Chloe continued to pant rapidly, her inner walls clutched tightly around Nadine’s three coaxing fingers. Nadine's hand was wet all the way down to her wrist now, and when she crooked her fingers, gently, Chloe moaned throatily, right into her face, and kissed her in daze before pulling away slightly with a moist smack of their lips. Suddenly, Nadine felt a warm, wet swatch drag up from her chin to her eyebrow. Her own impending orgasm vanished instantly, and she went completely rigid in shock. So did Chloe, a second later, a horrified expression etched across her face. She’d gone pale the moment Nadine had stopped, and now went the opposite and turned bright red.

"Did you just _lick my face?_ ” Nadine asked, incredulous. She honestly couldn’t decide if it had been a turn on or not. With how quickly her mounting arousal had faded, she was leaning heavily toward _not_.

Chloe looked mortified. “Um. Maybe?”

"Please,” said Nadine, after an awkward few seconds of silence. “Don’t ever do that again.”

"Lick you,” Chloe attempted to clarify, “or just lick your face?”

Now Nadine felt herself blush. “What do you think?”

Chloe sat up, returning her full weight to Nadine’s narrow hips. She seemed somewhat miffed, now. “Listen. I’d like to see you live as a bloody panther for a few years and not do things like that without thinking, so—”

Unable to stop herself, Nadine burst out laughing. Chloe pouted, and she laughed harder, and reached up to wrap an arm around her slender shoulders, pulling her down so she could kiss her in apology.

"I’m sorry,” she said, even though she sort of wasn’t. Chloe’s face was very cute like this. “I don’t mean to laugh at you.”

“Yes, you do,” Chloe grumbled, but relaxed into her embrace like warm wax, humming happily as Nadine kissed her sweaty neck and jaw absently. “But I really am sorry.”

“S’fine,” Nadine murmured, too busy sucking a dark spot into the tender skin just behind Chloe’s notched ear to care anymore.

"Tell you what,” Chloe husked out. “I’ll make it up to you, okay?” With firm hands, she pulled Nadine’s arm from her shoulder, and then lifted her hips with an audible squish and removed the fingers pierced deep into her folds. They emerged sticky and dripping, sore from their abuse, strings of wetness still connected to the sopping mess between Chloe’s spread thighs. Chloe winked, and then brought Nadine’s glistening hand up, and sucked those three fingers eagerly into her mouth, one at a time, swirling her tongue around each finger until Nadine was breathless and dizzy. Then Chloe leaned forward and pressed both of Nadine’s wrists to the bed. Her breath smelled sweet and musky, and when they kissed, Nadine whimpered at the subtle flavor. But then Chloe was pulling away again, sliding herself downward, until she was looking up at Nadine from between her folded knees. _Jissus_.

"How do you like it?” Chloe purred against her inner thigh, licking at the dampness spread there from Nadine’s soaked pubic hair.

"Ah,” said Nadine, her head already arching back into her pillow. From what she could remember, the last time something like this had happened with her… “I—I don’t like penetration. Everything else is fine.” More than fine, really, but she didn’t want to sound more of a fool than she already did.

Chloe make a happy sound of assent. “Keep your hands where they are," she ordered in a growl. "You grab me, I stop.”

 _"Shit_ ,” Nadine said under her breath. “Ja. Alright.”

"Thatta girl.” She growled again against Nadine’s skin, raising goosebumps. “God, you smell good.” She licked a slow, hard stripe over Nadine’s outer lips. “Mmm.” Nadine let out a shuddering, girlish moan and twisted about on the bed, clinging at the sheets above her head like a lifeline, muscles flexing all across her body as she attempted to hold herself still.

In a word, Chloe was insatiable, licking and sucking at Nadine until it nearly began to hurt, she was so swollen and sensitive. As Nadine had requested, she didn’t use her fingers at all to push inside, but rather to stroke her engorged lips and hold them apart for her wickedly dexterous tongue. She played with Nadine's clit as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world, stroking it around and around in quick circles, then focusing on one side, then the other, before attacking it directly with her hot mouth and firm lips. The flat of her tongue pressed hard against her; Nadine felt a soft vibration and gasped. At first, she thought Chloe was just humming, then realized it was more of a purring that then became an aggressive sort of growling, the muffled rumbling sending thrills of pleasure throughout her body, nipples pricking and her skin going tight with goosebumps. Again, she reminded herself that there was no danger here—it was Chloe, licking her with relish, Chloe, feasting on the slick between her thighs, Chloe, _Chloe—!_

She came with a fierce arch to her back and a breathless moan. Chloe licked her throughout, making soft, happy sounds, then sat up and kissed her, her mouth slippery with musk. Fighting through the pleasurable haze of her orgasm, Nadine kissed her back, then grunted when Chloe suddenly rolled them over so Nadine was on top, running her hands with frank appreciation over Nadine’s muscular torso and arms.

“Jesus,” she groaned, biting her lip. Already, she had a knee hooked around the back of Nadine's thigh, hips jerking, looking for friction, their pubic bones grinding together. At Chloe's desperate urging, Nadine rested her forearms on the bed and began to thrust back at her. It was difficult to find the right angle like this, but they were already so wet and far gone that Nadine could tell it wouldn't take much for either of them. Beneath her, Chloe gave a muffled moan, and then sharp pain flooded Nadine's senses. She gasped and bucked reflexively, thrusting so hard Chloe had to slam a hand to the nearest wall to keep themselves where they were on the bed. What...?

Chloe had _bitten_ her, right on the meat of her shoulder, not enough to draw blood, but the mark ached fiercely, and began to throb almost at once.

"Chloe,” she gasped out, trying for admonishing but sounding terribly turned on instead.

"Sorry,” Chloe whimpered. “I—can’t—I can’t stop myself—” She looked so beautifully frustrated Nadine had pity on her, despite her throbbing wounds. They ground together, pelvises cradled against each other, moving with increasing frenzy. Chloe began to gasp in her ear, and when she came, less than ten seconds later, she sank her nails into Nadine's flexing back and then raked them downwards. Nadine cried out, and then immediately afterwards her body clutched in pleasure, climaxing with a low, drawn out groan. All the strength seemed to seep out of her muscles like water, and she collapsed against the woman beneath her, panting and dizzy.

A minute or two later, she roused and tried to roll off Chloe, worried she was too heavy, but the other woman dug her nails in again the moment she tensed. “Don’t you dare,” she hissed. In apology, Nadine drowsily kissed up the side of her neck to her mouth, loving the taste she found they. They traded lazy kisses and licks for a while, and then Chloe lapped a warm apology across her battered shoulder, the tender skin buzzing under her attention, until Nadine could feel her nipples hardening again, the slick between her legs heating up.

"Ok,” Chloe announced brightly all of a sudden, pushing Nadine off of her and bouncing spryly off the bed, as if she hadn’t just spent the last half hour or so driving Nadine completely insane. She wiped her still-wet mouth with the flat of her fingers, then licked those clean with visible relish, and said, “Five minute break for food, then I’m coming back in here, and doing the rest of the things I want to do to you before I turn back.”

"What else is there?” asked Nadine, only somewhat intimidated.

"For you?” Chloe bared those oddly sharp teeth of hers. “I have a _list_.”

 

—

 

Afterwards, they lay together on their backs, Chloe’s head propped on Nadine’s unbitten shoulder, Nadine’s arm threaded behind her neck as a makeshift pillow. The room smelled like musk and sex, their cooling bodies damp with sweat. Nadine was tired, though if Chloe had been up for more, and also if they'd had time, she knew she could rouse herself easily enough. Still, it was nice to lay like this, in a half-awake, half-asleep trance, her body throbbing lightly as it calmed.   

"Asav,” she said suddenly into the room. “He was your father’s partner, wasn’t he?”

Chloe’s warm, lax body went stiff for a moment before relaxing again. She bit her lip, then nodded. “He was.” She seemed to mull it over, then sighed.

"I was going to trick him,” she said quietly. “Pretended I was some adventurer rookie looking for treasure, said I’d heard he was the best. Begged him to take me on a job with him. First chance I got, I was gonna shoot him in the back.”

"No less than he deserved,” said Nadine.

“Right?” Chloe grinned, then bit her lip again, pensive. “Took a while, earning his trust, but he agreed to take me along, eventually. Said he had a lead on some Bengali temple in India. Something about this old civilization there that used to worship leopards or something like that. Supposedly, they prayed to a golden idol that’d been lost years and years ago. Asav wanted to find it and take it for himself. I told him I’d help.”

“Let me guess,” Nadine murmured, when Chloe fell silent. “There was no golden idol.”

“Nah,” said Chloe, shaking her head. “Asav’s treasure turned out to be a little trinket. Tiny little stone carving of a panther. Something you could fit on a necklace, really. He got mad, wanted to just leave. So I pulled out my gun, told him who I was, gave him the whole, _you killed my father_ spiel. He just laughed at me, the prick. I shot him in the leg. I was ready to kill him then, but something... Something stopped me.”

Nadine was quiet. Already, she knew what it was—that inside, Chloe was a good person, not a heartless murderer. She couldn’t kill Asav in cold blood, despite everything he’d done.

“I was ready to walk away. As a sort of final, _screw you_ , I grabbed the little carving. Next thing I know, I’m on the ground, not even a person anymore. Before I could really figure out what was going on, Asav was gone. And that was the last I’d seen of him ‘til a few days ago. He saw what happened to me, back there. He knew. And believe me, I went back to that temple over and over, looking for that carving. Never found it.”

“You think Asav…?”

“Oh, he definitely did.” Chloe’s eyes began to shine with a fierce, determined light. “I… I have a theory. On how to break the curse. Didn’t get a good look at Asav when he came by the other day, but I could—I could feel it. The carving. He carries it around with him, all the time. Probably wears it or something. I think, if we can get it from him, and, I dunno, break it, it’ll free me. Least, I think so.” She turned her head, and looked Nadine square in the face. “Will you help me do that?”

“Ja,” said Nadine at once, breathless. Up until now, Chloe had outright refused her help. For her to ask it now, to swallow that pride and make herself vulnerable… She would not break that bond between them, not for anything. “Thank you. For trusting me.”

Chloe craned her neck back and kissed her lazily on the jaw. “Sorry I was being such a selfish dickhead, before. Got it in my head that I could do it all by myself. Sometimes, you just gotta admit when you’re in too deep. That you need a hand, someone to watch your back, y’know?” She grinned broadly. “Feels good, being honest. Maybe I’ll do it more often.”

Sudden tears filled Nadine’s eyes. Her throat tightened and clogged. Before she could stop herself, she had begun to cry. When was the last time she had done such a thing? Before her father’s death, certainly. Before Shoreline, even. Before… any of this.

Chloe heard her sniffle and bolted upright. “Shit, Nadine, I didn’t—”

"It’s not you,” said Nadine in a strangled voice. She covered her eyes with her forearm and wept, choking back the sobs hitching in her chest. Here Chloe was, being so open and honest with herself, when Nadine had been living a lie for years and years. Maybe it was time for her to be honest, too.

"I hate it,” she admitted at last. “I hate what I do. I hate what Shoreline has become. I hate ripping those animals from their homes, and selling them to strangers for money. I hate that I’m a poacher, and that I pretended I was anything but. I can't—I can't do it. Not anymore.”

Then she laid there and cried, her body jerking from the force of her buried sobs. Before she could roll over, or jump to her feet and leave, an arm went around her side and a warm weight pressed against her front—Chloe, hugging her close.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey,” she cooed soothingly, smoothing a kind hand across Nadine’s sweaty brow, fingers tangling gently into her loose, frizzed hair. “That’s alright. You just go ahead, china. Let it out. I’m right here.”

So she did. She cried like she hadn’t since she was eight, and her mother had died unexpectedly of a cancer no one knew was growing inside of her. She cried until her ribs ached and her throat burned, until she was exhausted and drained. When the tears at last stopped, she closed her eyes and did her best to collect what remained, shocked by the force of her sorrow. Were emotions always so terribly tiring?

She wiped her face with her palms and then wrapped them behind her head. Still lying halfway on top of her, Chloe crossed her hands on her freshly-scarred sternum and then propped her chin on the backs of them, peering up at Nadine with those intense grey eyes of hers.

"Feel better?”

Nadine shrugged. “Not really.”

"Just wait a bit longer, then. You will. I did my fair share of that, over the years.”

"What, crying?”

"No. I mean, everyone cries. I’m talking about taking a good long look at yourself in the mirror, and realizing you don’t like what you see. That’s when the real work starts, yeah?”

"Ja.”

Chloe smiled at her fondly. “So. I want to know. Now that you’re ready to leave your father’s legacy behind—and please say you’re doing it for you and not for me, otherwise I’ll have to bloody—”

"It’s for me,” Nadine interrupted. “You’re the one who made me see it, but it’s for me.”

"Ah. Good. So, like I was saying. What’s something _you_ want. You, Nadine Ross.”

"Something I want?” Nadine frowned. “Like, right now?”

Chloe rolled her eyes, but her face was soft with affection. “No, silly. Like, in your life. What do you dream about doing, when no one else is around?”

Nadine thought about it for a while. “I want to ride an elephant,” she said suddenly.

"That’s a good one,” Chloe said encouragingly. “I bet there’d be room for two up there, hey? What else?”

Nadine thought about it some more. These were things she’d never dared to imagine were possible for herself. To think she could accomplish them… “I… I want to go places no one else has gone. Discover things people don’t even believe still exist.”

"Oh, I like that one, too,” Chloe purred. “Anything else?”

"I want to see the northern lights,” Nadine whispered. “In Iceland.”

"Iceland?” Chloe mused. “That might be tricky, but I think it’s manageable. I’ve a friend with a plane. Cold this time of year, though. We’ll have to bring plenty of warm clothes.”

Nadine cocked her head to regard her fully. “We?”

"Sorry, am I not invited?” Chloe joked, but her eyes were warm, and she looked so beautiful, lying there on her chest, peering up at her so sweetly. Nadine simply had to take her by the chin and pull her up for a kiss.

"Sleepy,” Chloe yawned, then blinked heavily. “Not a good sign. Probably gonna change back soon. I’ll just—” She swung her legs off Nadine’s bed, but her knees wobbled as soon as she tried to stand. “Whoa!”

"Here.” Nadine, quickly throwing on an old tank-top and then pulling her cargo pants back up, gripped Chloe behind her knees and at the small of her back, and lifted her easily into her arms, bridal style. Chloe’s eyes went wide.

"Well,” she said, as Nadine made her way out of the barracks and down the stairs without trouble. “This is nice.” She yawned again, head drooping.

At the cage, Chloe was practically unconscious, so Nadine very gently lowered her to the floor, laying her out on her back on the cool cement. Chloe murmured something unintelligible. It sounded like, “Night, china.” Then her body went utterly limp, as though she were deeply asleep.

Watching from the cage door, Nadine did not take her eyes away from Chloe. There wasn’t a transformation, like she’d seen in movies. No crunching bones or ripping flesh. Between the space of two breaths, and in the blink of Nadine’s eyes, Chloe, fast asleep on the floor, became the Bengalese black panther, its large, hulking body splayed out on its side, flanks heaving as it breathed steady and slow.

Tentatively, Nadine knelt and reached out, and stroked her palm with great care down the panther’s magnificent head. The slumbering animal flicked an ear and made a soft groaning sound, but remained asleep. Nadine watched as it dreamed, admiring its beauty, its sheer, vibrating power and charged energy.

Could she really do this? she wondered. Abandon everything she’d ever known, let her father’s life work crumble into the dust? And for who? For herself, of course, but also for this creature before her now, and the magnificent woman trapped inside it. Could Nadine tear her own world apart, destroy Shoreline to its foundations, and then embark to build a new life, one where she was happy and whole and a greater person than she'd ever imagined possible.

She looked again, at the sleeping panther, felt its teeming warmth and strength in the curve of its skull beneath the palm of her hand.

And then she decided.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: this chapter is very important and thought provoking it really shows the deep seated issues nadine has with her self worth tied with her father's legacy and how she's built herself into this emotionless automaton in order to please him even after he's dead and gone in this essay I will
> 
> monkey brain: OOOOMMMMMGGGGGG SSSSSEEEEEXXXX!!!!!!
> 
>  
> 
> since I had to switch the prompts, today's word for chlodine week is "lights." only one day left!!
> 
> *cheesy announcer voice* will our ladies figure out a way to break the curse?? will asav and/or shoreline be a complete asshole and ruin their plans?? is chloe actually a furry and the author just doesn't want to admit it?? (hard no) 
> 
> tune in next time on dragonball z!!!
> 
> also someone get nadine a "congrats on the sex" cake, my girl earned it


	5. FIVE

It took much less time than Nadine had anticipated, readying Shoreline for destruction. She had expected unseen pitfalls. Delays. Problems she could not fix. Hurdles she could not cross. _Something_.

But, no. It was easy, almost laughably so. Everything was in her name—the offshore bank accounts, the forged shipping manifests, the black market labor and client contracts. Even the ownership of the property itself. Literally the only one with access to Shoreline’s backbone was Nadine. Her father, in relinquishing the entirety of the company to her and her alone, had made this possible. The irony of the situation did not escape her. Her father had entrusted his legacy to her care. That she was now poised to dismantle it, piece by piece, seemed somehow sad, yet fitting. She would be the one to bring this company down. Not the law, or her own men. Just her.

What she could not accomplish by email was done by phone. Very little of Shoreline’s official goings-on were conducted over hard copy anymore, to leave less evidence in such an event as what was occurring now. What paperwork she had stored in her office was easily shredded and burned in less than an hour. Over the years, Nadine had garnered so much respect that no one dared question her, even as she phoned the bank and emptied Shoreline’s multiple accounts of funds into one small deposit for herself, enough to at least flee the city and survive for a month or two, then dispersed the rest to animal-related non-profits around the world. Then she cancelled every upcoming job Shoreline had planned out for the next six months, wiping the entire schedule clean, and deleted every contact from their lengthy client list, built over decades of illegal dealings, but only after copying it and sending it off in an encrypted file to the proper authorities. They could do with it as they liked.

If she was careful, and made sure not to leave too much a trace, Nadine was confident that no one else would notice the changes she was quietly implementing within her company until it was too late. In fact, if everything continued to go this smoothly, curing Chloe would seem relatively simple in comparison.    

That was, of course, until Orca ducked in to her office for his usual morning status report and offhandedly announced that Asav himself would be arriving in Cape Town much sooner than his scheduled pick up date, which was four days from now.

At his name, Nadine, who had only been half-listening to Orca prattle about the business she’d already begun to take apart, snapped her head up and blurted loudly, “What?”

At her sharp tone, Orca faltered. “Ma’am?”

“What did you just say, about Asav?”

Orca frowned. “Just that he won’t be coming on the eighteenth, like he was scheduled to. It’ll be tonight, instead. Late. Said something about bribing a customs officer, but the guy’s only working today and tomorrow, or summin like that. Said to meet ‘im with the panther at the port at 2AM.”

For a moment, Nadine could not speak. She felt cold all over. Through numb lips, she asked, “Why wasn’t I informed of this, before now?”

"Must’ve been an oversight, ma’am. I’ll find out.” Orca frowned at her again. “Is… Is everything alright, ma’am?”

Nadine could not move. “We're not—he can’t just change the date.”

“Thought you’d be pleased, ma’am,” said Orca, confused. “Finally be rid of that _bladdy_ thing. Get our hard-earned money, yeh? Waited long enough for it already.”

 _Fok_. Tonight? She—they weren’t ready. She and Chloe had been preparing to ambush Asav when he arrived on base in four days time. Now they had less than twenty-four hours, and in an entirely different meeting location, no less. Any moves they made in such a short space of time would definitely be noticed by the men. Chloe, back in her panther form for the day, wouldn’t even know about the change of plans until tonight, when it might be too late. Why had Asav switched the date so suddenly? Was it true about the customs officer, or did he have reason to suspect them? Shit—

She realized Orca was watching her, and said gruffly, “Of course.” She jerked her head at the door. “Dismissed.”

Orca turned to obey, then stopped. Nadine felt a chill as he turned back around. “Is there something going on, ma’am?” Christ, even he sounded suspicious now. Or was she just flustered, and paranoid, on the brink of panicking?

A cool bead of sweat rolled down her spine. She had never been a good liar. Still, Chloe’s life depended on it now. Nadine squared her shoulders, gave Orca her best imperious glare, and said, “What do you mean?”

“Things seem...off, I s’pose,” he replied. With his stupid-looking sunglasses pulled over his eyes, Nadine could not read his expression very well. “It’s just…” He seemed to hesitate, and Nadine’s heartrate spiked. Did he know?

"What?” she spat. “I haven’t got all goddamn day.”

“Why all the shipments all of a sudden?” Orca nodded to the window overlooking the yard, where Shoreline was a flurry of activity, busily loading crates onto their fleet of cargo trucks, readying them for travel.

She lied through her teeth. “Change of scenery. I’ve decided Shoreline needs to move again. There’ve been too many officials sniffing around. We’re going back to Johannesburg.”

"I haven’t heard anything about—”

“Are you telling me how to run my business?” she snapped. Orca flinched at her stony tone. A good sign. He was still at least somewhat wary of her. She would need that.

"No, ma’am, just—”

"If I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it.” She gave him a dismissive sneer, the likes of which she usually reserved for her bumbling, lowest ranked men. It seemed to cow him for the most part, though Nadine could still see a stubborn set to his shoulders. “ _Dismissed_ ,” she repeated, with undeniable finality.

For a moment, he didn’t move. Nadine’s neck prickled. Was he going to confront her, right here? Her gun on her hip felt heavy, a constant, familiar presence. She did not want to shoot Orca, but if he got in her way, she’d do it in a second.

"Yes, ma’am,” Orca said at last, and left, though he looked very unhappy about it. Nadine waited until the door closed behind him, and sagged back into her chair, her mind racing. It was 2PM. Asav wanted to meet off-base in twelve hours. If Nadine wanted to make sure Shoreline was appropriately crippled by then, she’d have to move fast.

But first, she found the contact number Chloe had given her the other night to a so-called friend of hers, someone she claimed she trusted and conveniently owned a seaplane. Asav wanting to meet at the port meant, possibly, they could break the curse, then flee by air. Nadine had not planned on using the number until 24-hours before their escape. Hopefully, Chloe's friend was not located further than 2500 kilometers away, otherwise he would not make it in time. On a burner phone, she sent a lengthy text Chloe had orated to her, scattered with key words and phrases—“goddamn” and “moustache” being a few, oddly enough—but heard nothing back, and hoped feverishly that they would not be left to the breeze when the time came.

She spent the rest of the day getting her company’s affairs in order—or, out of order, depending on how you looked at it—glancing at the clock practically every five minutes. If they made it out of this in one piece, it would be a goddamn miracle.

 

—

 

By 10PM, Nadine’s stomach was cramping with dread, and she felt physically ill. Again and again, she ran the scenario she had planned over in her head. As evening fell, she had operated the shifts as usual, and sent the majority of the men to the barracks to sleep. That left, at most, a dozen of them on watch throughout the property and other warehouses for her and Chloe to deal with, before they could exit Shoreline property and travel by deserted back roads to reach the port.

Of those dozen men, Nadine was not worried about ten. The last two, Knot and Orca, both of whom she felt might grow wary or suspicious if taken suddenly off their scheduled watches, could potentially pose a problem if they caught on to what she was doing. Both men had been with Shoreline for several decades, and Orca in particular had served loyally under her father for years. At times, she wondered exactly where that loyalty lay—in the company, or her?

Tonight, she would find out.

When her own night shift began, it took supreme effort not to run to the warehouse where the panther cage was kept. Asav wanted to meet at the port at 2AM for the transfer, so Nadine would be expected to move the panther into a crate around midnight, in preparation for transport, though she planned to free Chloe before then, and have her men unwittingly move an empty crate, instead. Then she and Chloe would head early to the port, find Asav, and get the carving from him.

At the cage, she came to a sudden stop. Facing her now was the panther, peering at her blankly with its low-lidded grey eyes. Shit. Why hadn’t Chloe changed yet? It was ten past 11PM already. They could not afford to wait any longer.

 _Jissus_. She—Nadine would have to trust it, and let the panther out of the cage before it became Chloe. The panther, thankfully, did not look especially upset or frightened, which was a good sign that Chloe was currently in control. Still, flashbacks from their first meeting reared, and she swallowed past a sudden dryness in her throat. The scar on her chest was a stark reminder of what this thing could do. If the animal’s instincts overpowered Chloe, and it attacked her…

She approached the cage, the panther looking at her with visible interest. Then it growled faintly—'faintly’ being loud as a coffee grinder on low power, and not rocks in a blender on high—and Nadine nearly dropped the keys in her hand as she fumbled to unlock the door. She readjusted her grip and refused to back away.

“Shhhh,” she said, finishing with the padlocks, and, before she could freeze up, opened the cage door. Quickly, she stepped back, breath held.

Out of the cage came the Bengalese black panther, stepping slowly on paws big as Nadine’s spread hand. It was almost as tall as her waist, its hulking head and neck rippling with power, flanks flexing, radiating strength and ferocity with every shift of its oily black coat. It was an apex predator, perfectly capable of defending itself to any threat, as it had already demonstrated, having killed eight of Nadine’s men not even two weeks ago.

And now it was free.

"Chloe,” she said in a hoarse voice, when the panther continued to walk toward her. Who, exactly, was in control right now? All too easily, Nadine could imagine its claws, slashing at her throat again. She went completely still as the panther sniffed curiously at her boots, then her knees, growling in the back of its throat. When it reached her stomach and could not go higher, it suddenly reared onto its hind legs and balanced upright with its heavy forelimbs on her shoulders, thickly-curved claws pricking at the back of her shirt. Nadine _oof_ ed and barely kept them standing, the panther’s large face abruptly thrust into her own. She didn’t dare move as the panther sniffed about her neck and cheeks and hair. At last, it peered squarely into her eyes, and then opened its mouth and—

—licked her square across the face with one long, rasping swatch of its sandpaper tongue.

Nadine jerked her head away in disgust. “ _Chloe!_ ” she shouted. “What did I tell you?”

The panther’s muzzle wrinkled back, exposing wet black gums and sharp white teeth, as if it were grinning, somehow, and in it, Nadine saw Chloe, laughing at her gaily. So, then. It really was her, for now. She hoped Chloe could stay in control of the animal until she changed, which, hopefully, would be very soon.

She pushed gently—then, when that didn’t work, shoved hard at the panther’s solid chest, dizzy from its awe-inspiring proximity, and its dragging weight, bearing down on her shoulders and chest. The panther let out a groan and eased itself back to four legs with a loud chuff. It prowled back and forth beside Nadine’s legs, growling every now and then, as though uneasy.

"It’s okay,” Nadine soothed, as she locked the cage back up, and pulled a nearby fitted tarp over it, so at a glance, nobody could tell it was empty. “Shhhh.” She had just finished the last buckle when she noticed that the panther had gone perfectly still. Feeling a chill of cold finality, she turned, and saw that the bay doors, which she had closed up after her, were partially open now, and someone was standing there, watching them.

Orca.

"What are you doing, ma’am?” asked Orca, sunglasses perched on the top of his head, wide eyes fastened on the loose panther, face stricken. He had a pistol at his hip, and a rifle slung around his chest, but had so far seized neither.

"Orca,” said Nadine, in her firmest, coldest, most ball-breaking tone. “Get back on your watch. _Now_.”

But Orca just looked between her and the panther with growing trepidation. He put a hand on his pistol but didn’t draw it. Yet. “Think I’m good right here, ma’am.”

As casually as she could, Nadine put her hand on her own sidearm. She was a better shot than Orca any day of the week. But if she could avoid a firefight, she would. “You’re disobeying a direct order?”

Orca ignored her. “Why is that thing out?”

"None of your _fokken_ business, that’s why. Now _fokkoff_.” Nadine was done being nice, and trying to trick or fool him. He needed to get out of her way, now.

Her second-in-command didn’t listen. He drew his gun but didn’t aim it, keeping the muzzle pointed at the floor. The panther erupted into thunderous growls, the fur between its jutting shoulderblades going stiff. Nadine drew her own gun, tensing. She was wearing a bulletproof vest under her Shoreline shirt, but if Orca were to shoot Chloe instead, they would be in trouble. She couldn’t risk it. Better to try and talk him down first.

“Put that thing back into its cage. _Ma’am_.” The naked disdain dripping from his words made Nadine balk. Orca, oddly, did not sound frightened or panicked at the prospect of a loose panther in the warehouse with him. He sounded rational. Calm. Like Nadine was the fool here. She tightened her grip on her pistol and blinked against a stray bead of sweat rolling into her eye.

"Orca,” she said, motioning to his gun. “Put that away right now, and I’ll forget this ever happened. We can just go our separate ways. Nobody gets hurt. Nobody dies.”

“You can go,” Orca said amiably. Then he nodded at the panther, standing between them. “But you leave that _fokken_ thing here. It’s mine now, bought and paid for.”

Nadine sneered at him. “Go to hell.”

Orca laughed bitterly. “I knew it. I’ve always known. You never had the guts to run this business. Such a goddamn bleedin’ heart, tellin’ us we can’t hurt ‘em, can’t do this, can’t do that. Ha! You’re nothing like your father was.”

"Good,” Nadine said. That was probably the best thing she had heard in a while, to be honest. It almost relieved her.

The gun in Orca’s hand lifted and pointed at the panther. Nadine snapped hers up in reply. “Maybe I’ll just shoot the _bladdy_ thing,” Orca said, a cruel smile on his face. “Since you seem so keen on setting it free.”

"And lose your money?” Nadine gave a short, sharp laugh of disbelief. “Think Asav will still pay top dollar for a dead panther full of holes?”

Orca’s gun didn’t waver, pointed straight ahead. “Maybe I’m just willing to risk it, ma’am.”

Nadine’s heart began to race. Should she call his bluff? Or was he just that determined to stop her?

“The rest of the men,” Orca went on, “they look at you like the sun shines out’ve your arse. But me, I could tell summin was up. You’re purging the system. All those jobs we had lined up? Gone. Contacts, clients? Those’re gone, too. And the warehouses—I checked ‘em all, just now. They’re empty. Not one _bladdy_ monkey or bird or even a _fokken_ hedgehog.” For the first time, a trembling rage tinged his voice, slurring his accent into a grumbling drawl. The gun pointed at the panther began to shake, as if in fury. “Where did you send all the animals? Huh? Where are they?”

Nadine couldn’t help a triumphant grin. It had been her most clever accomplishment since she’d set about dismantling everything her father had ever built. “I shipped them to animal sanctuaries and rescues all across South Africa. You’ll never see them again. And you can certainly forget getting paid for any of them, either.”

“You _what?_ ” Orca’s face paled and then went dark red. “ _You—!_ ”

They both went still; distantly, a police siren had begun to wail.

"Forgot,” said Nadine coolly. “I called the authorities as well. Do you know how many years in jail poaching will get you?”

"You… You…” Again, the gun wavered, then steadied. Orca bared his teeth at her like an animal. “You’re just the same as us, ma’am. Scum. Down here in the dirt, with all’a us. You were there, every step. Every hunt. You can pretend you’re better, but that’s a lie. So why should it be just you who gets away with it, eh?”

"Let me go, Orca,” said Nadine. “You might have enough time to steal one of the trucks and get away, too, if you’re lucky.”

"No offense, ma’am, but _fokkoff_.”

Nadine shrugged. She lowered her weapon back to her side. This man had already been defeated. He wouldn’t shoot them. Not when he’d already lost so much. “Do what you like. But I’m leaving.” To the panther, still poised protectively in front of her, she said softly, “C’mon, Chloe.” The panther flicked its ear at her, but didn’t move.

Orca was shaking his head. “No, ma’am, I don’t think I can let you do that.”

With a creaking groan, the warehouse bay doors swung open, exposing a group of her own men, standing with Orca, faces stern and resigned. The rest of tonight’s night watch. Nadine glared at them all, sickened by the betrayal, yet entirely unsurprised. What was this, some sort of pathetic attempt at a coup? What had Orca promised them, to get them on his side? What had it taken, for them to agree to it? Exactly how fast, how easily had her own men turned on her?

All of the men were armed, guns drawn. Two of them had hunting rifles Nadine guessed were loaded with tranquilizers rather than actual bullets. If even one of them managed to shoot the panther with it, they might be able to kill Nadine, then sell Chloe to Asav anyways.

Nadine snapped her gun back up. In front of her, the panther was bristling and growling ferociously, hissing at the approaching men. The odds were poor, twelve against two, but she refused to give up—

—no, wait. Including Orca, there were only eleven men in front of her. She’d miscounted. Where was the last? Had he gone to wake the others, sleeping in the barracks, ignorant to their own demise, or—?    

Something jabbed her in the side, and then a sweeping fire crackled over her body, forcing all of her muscles to clench at once and frying her brain with a white-cold heat. Her finger squeezed involuntarily, and her gun went off, the bullet hitting wide with a high-pitched whine. One of the men shot back on instinct, startled, and she felt a hot punch to her right shoulder that almost knocked her off her feet.

“Don’t _fokken_ kill ‘er!” Orca roared, and then there was a scream, high and sharp—the panther. Then everyone was shouting over each other in a rising panic.

The painful pressure in her side returned, the fire scorching her insides and radiating through her skull. Nadine wheezed and fell over, completely paralyzed, and gazed helplessly up as a blurry figure stepped over her. Knot, a fully charged cattle prod in hand. Knot, her third, who’d always seemed so frightened of her. He didn’t look it now, just grim. Coldly determined.

He raised his arm to jab her again, and then a black blur bowled him completely over, landing on top of him. The panther got him by the throat and then shook him like a child’s plaything. Nadine _heard_ his neck snap. The men shouted, guns went off, loud as cannonfire in the warehouse interior, the panther screamed again—

Darkness clouded Nadine’s vision. The pain had been too much, blacking her out. Sounds grew muffled. Her entire body was cramped in pain. She could barely breathe. She gnashed her teeth and tried to move, fighting valiantly against her locked body. All around her the men were running—some one way, some another. Frightened. Disorganized. Like amateurs.

It grew quiet. Then, suddenly, a wet clamp closed over her left bicep. Nadine gasped hoarsely, but still couldn’t move. She felt the prick of sharp teeth and then the formidable strength of an adult black leopard dragging her across the floor. Then it began to lift her, and an enormous rush of blood to her head spiraled her into unconsciousness.

A raspy tongue lapping at her chin woke her. The warehouse had gone dark and gloomy around them—had the power been cut? Or had the panicking men accidentally shot the lights out, or the breaker box? The police sirens were louder now, though still not terribly close. She smelled rank panther breath and felt a warm blast of air on her face. Crouched above her, the panther gave a short, distressed groan.

"Run,” Nadine forced out, amazed Chloe had kept enough control to not go berserk, yet desperate for her to get out of harm’s way. “Hide.”

The panther gave another groan, then slid into the darkness surrounding them, as if it had never been there at all. Faintly, she could hear the Shoreline men, searching for them, and tried to sit up. Her body was sore and aching from the cattle prod, and her injured shoulder was aflame, her side damp with sticky, half-dry blood. She quickly inspected her wound—the bullet was a clean through and through, entering just below her collarbone—and then took a moment to rip a strip of cloth off the bottom of her shirt with her teeth to bind it tightly. It hurt so bad she felt nauseous, but now, at least, she would not bleed to death.

She looked around. She was up on a stack of crates that towered almost all the way to the warehouse ceiling. Had Chloe hauled her all the way up here, to try and keep her out of harm’s way? _Jissus_. Extraordinary.

Gingerly, she got to her knees. She’d always had a head for heights, but needed to figure a way off, back to ground level. If she shimmied down a crate and reached over to the side, she might be able to grab onto the metal stairway that led up and down from her personal barracks. Trying to keep as quiet as possible, she crabbed her way down the crate, one-armed, wincing every time her wound pulled and bled anew, a fresh pulse of iron-tanged warmth seeping down her ribs. She made it to the metal staircase with some difficulty and took a moment to catch her breath before heading down, one step at a time, taking care to keep silent.

"Find it!” Orca was bellowing, his voice booming around the dark warehouse in a mighty, frantically-pitched echo. Narrow flashlight beams darted sporadically through the black. “It’s just one panther! And where the _fok_ did Ross go?”

"Dunno,” said someone. Snake, maybe. “Listen, Orca, maybe we should just cut our losses and—”

"Shut up!”

Nadine’s boot hit solid cement. She was on the ground floor now. She crept behind a row of crates, trying to spot the men in the gloom. In she could ambush one and steal their gun—she’d dropped hers, earlier—she might have a chance of getting out of here with Chloe alive. The lights flickered, and she saw them, clustered together near the covered panther cage. Besides Knot, there were now two other bodies on the floor, bleeding out. The panther had been busy.

The lights flickered again, and then came shudderingly back on. Nadine ducked back behind cover, peering out the side at the closely bunched group. Shit. She couldn’t run out now, her element of surprise gone. She’d be shot to ribbons before she could even go three feet. Unless—

"If we don’t find that panther in five goddamn minutes,” shouted Orca, “I’m gonna _fokken_ —!”

"Come on, now, boys,” said a sudden, laughing voice. “You can fight over me later!”

As one, the group of Shoreline men froze in place, stupefied. Jaws dropped. Eyes went wide. Nadine could imagine why—Chloe, standing with hands on hips beside the covered panther cage, had arrived fashionably late and quite naked to the party. It was all the distraction Nadine needed.

Snake was closest. Nadine slid out from behind her crate, took two running steps, swung and punched him as hard as she could in the side of the head. Unfortunately for him, that was rather hard, and Snake was unconscious before he hit the ground, skull rebounding off the floor with a sharp thud.

"Wuh?” said another man, who Nadine had never taken the time to learn the name of. She cold-cocked him with a left jab just as he turned toward her, right on the nose, and felt the bone and cartilage crunch under her knuckles like plaster.

Two down. Seven left.

The rest of the men whirled toward her. The two closest raised guns. Nadine spun and roundhouse kicked one away, breaking the man’s hand for good measure, knocking him senseless with an uppercut immediately after, then grabbed the other man by his wrist and twisted his arm out straight—her injured shoulder screamed in protest from the move—then rammed her open palm against the point of his elbow, bending it the wrong way with an ugly _crack!_ He screamed, dropped his gun, and fell limp. Nadine snatched the pistol up, aimed, shot him, and then shot two more men with point-blank precision, square between the eyes. They dropped like puppets with their strings cut.

Three left, now.

Another gun went off, and she heard a popping whine and then a fierce pinch as the bullet clipped her right arm, scorching a three-inch long bloody stripe across her bicep. If it had hit fully, her arm would’ve been rendered entirely useless. She swore at the pain and aimed—but the man who’d shot her was already on the ground, clutching his bleeding stomach. Who—?

Nadine felt a burst of elation—naked as Chloe was, she’d armed herself with a fallen pistol and shot the man who’d fired at her. As Nadine watched, Chloe casually aimed at another man fumbling with his own gun and shot him, too, right in the chest, right as her pistol clicked on empty. He collapsed. Which left one man—

 _"Gun!_ ” Chloe shouted suddenly.

Nadine jerked her head up. Orca was across from her, down on one knee, Para .45 pointed to Nadine’s chest. Nadine swung her own pistol over to him, but Orca shot first—four times, rapid fire. Two of the bullets missed. The other two struck her stomach and chest like hurled bricks. The vest did its job, and although it felt like she’d been suckerpunched in the gut by a charging water buffalo, she still managed to squeeze off three shots, right into his chest.

While she was still in mid-fire, someone tackled her around the waist and bore her down to the hard ground in a tangled pile, landing halfway on top of her. She started to fight them on instinct, then realized it was Chloe, a panicked look fading from her face.

"Did…” Nadine paused to catch her breath, winded from the shots she’d taken. “Did you just try to save me?”

"Er,” said Chloe, looking a bit embarrassed by her semi-delayed reaction. “Maybe?”

"You… You know I have a bulletproof vest on, right?”

Chloe glanced down, at the black material showing through the bullet holes in Nadine’s shirt. “Oh. Look at that.”

Despite the fact that it hurt badly to move or even breathe, Nadine laughed, then winced. Chloe tried to sit up, looking irritated, but Nadine put her arms around her bare back and held her close.

"Sorry, sorry. It was—that was sweet of you. Thank you.”

"Humph,” said Chloe, sounding grouchy but relieved she was okay. “Sorry I was so late, showing up. You sure you’re alright, love? Christ, your shoulder. The hell’s happening, anyways? Looks like I missed quite a bit.”

"We need to move. Asav’s coming, tonight.”

Chloe’s shoulders tensed. “Tonight?”

Nadine updated her as quickly as she could, then stood unsteadily—Christ, getting shot hurt—and hobbled to the closest body. She stripped him of his Shoreline-issued cargo shirt and pants and gave them to Chloe. “Hurry. We need to move, before the police get here, and the rest of the men realize what’s going on.” _Jissus_ , those sirens sounded close all of a sudden, like they were on the next street over.

Chloe pulled the dead man’s clothes on without protest, then stole Orca’s fallen Para .45, shoving her borrowed gun into the waistband of her new pants, belt cinched tight. “Alright. Nearly ready.”

"What else—?” Nadine began impatiently, just before Chloe grabbed her by the front of her shirt and planted a hard kiss on her mouth. When they parted, they were both breathless.

"Okay,” said Chloe. “ _Now_ I’m ready.”

 

—

 

They raced across the main yard together, Nadine’s boots pounding on the blacktop, Chloe’s bare feet slapping faintly beside her. The night sky was awash with light from the teeming city, flickering a brilliant red and blue from the approaching police cars. They were right outside, trying to work open the gate. In the Shoreline barracks, the lights were on now, and Nadine could see a commotion as the men inside woke and went into a frenzy of panic and disorientation.

"What d’we do, china?” Chloe asked. They were so far off the original plan they were in another country. Nadine was just making it up as they went, now.

She didn’t answer, just grabbed Chloe’s hand and yanked her toward the line of Shoreline pickup trucks parked near the main office, jumping into the closest one. She’d swiped the keys earlier. Once Chloe was in, Nadine started it, then stomped the accelerator to the floor, slamming them both back into their seats from the sudden force.

“Can’t I drive?” Chloe wailed, flailing for the arm grip. “Honest, I’m the best—”

“No!” Nadine shouted back over the squeal of tires and the roar of the truck’s engine. She spun the wheel and aimed for Shoreline’s back entrance, ramming through the chainlink fence in a screech of metal and a shower of sparks. They bounced over a ditch and hit the road. Nadine pressed harder on the gas, quickly climbing past 100 kph.

Chloe glanced through the window behind them, breathless with adrenaline. “Jesus! That’s what I call a getaway! Think they’ll chase us?”

Nadine spared a glance at her rearview mirror. She was hoping the police would deal with her men first and then sweep through the property before giving chase to the fleeing company vehicle. In their previous plan, she would have prepared an unmarked car for her and Chloe to escape in. Now, they didn’t have much of a choice. “We need to get to the port,” she said roughly. “It’s not far. If we’re lucky, both Asav and your friend will be there.” With the speed she was going, and without traffic, it would take less than ten minutes. She gunned the engine harder. 150 kph and still rising.

"Oh, you sent my message?” Chloe grinned excitedly. “Then he’ll be there, love. I guarantee it.” She opened the glove box and fished about, then triumphantly extracted a small first aid kit. “Show me your arm.”

Nadine obeyed, though she had to slow down a bit, wary to be driving so fast with just one hand on the wheel. She flicked her eyes every few seconds to her mirrors as Chloe skillfully bandaged the worst of her injuries, though her shot shoulder felt like one big knot of hot-tinged pain. The road behind them was empty. No lights. The police weren’t giving chase yet, which was good.

Before long, the streets narrowed, and the smell of brine came stronger through the vents. Before them was the flat, black expanse of the ocean, boats bobbing on the horizon—steamers, barges, tugboats. Shit, Nadine had forgot to find out which dock Asav wanted to meet them at. It would slow them, searching for it, but what else—?

"Hear that?” Chloe said suddenly, opening her window to stick her head outside, hair streaming in the wind. Through the truck’s gunning engine, Nadine concentrated, and then heard it too; the heavy, thrumming drone of an approaching seaplane. Chloe’s friend had gotten the message, after all.

“ _Sully, you beautiful bastard!_ ” Chloe yelled into the air, though surely, this “Sully” could not hear her.

"Good,” said Nadine, and relaxed the slightest bit. Something, at least, had worked out in their favor. Perhaps, if they made a few passes through the port, they could spot Asav. She hoped he’d come alone, and unarmed, though she wasn’t naive enough to expect either. Just because he seemed a moderately clean-cut businessman didn’t mean he didn’t have connections. She should assume the worst—that Asav had brought an army, that he had a goddamn APC at his beck and call, or—or a bloody _bomb_ , ridiculous as that sounded.

The rumbling drone of the seaplane was terribly loud now, as if it were directly overhead. In fact, it almost sounded like—

 _"Shit!_ ” Nadine yelled, just as a truck half again as big as theirs skirted around a corner and came barreling toward them. She tried to swerve away, toward the docks, which she could see now, but the truck cut her off, bullying her off the road and onto spraying gravel. The truck’s steering fought against her, stabbing pain erupting from her injured shoulder, forcing her to let go of the wheel. She slammed the brakes, afraid they’d go into the ocean if she didn’t, and the vehicle slid sideways—right into the path of the oncoming truck.

It struck them on the passenger side at full speed, the door crunching inwards at Chloe, who shrieked in alarm and covered her head in her hands. The Shoreline truck, still going a good 80 kph, smashed through some boating debris, and then overbalanced, upturned and rolled, twice, before settling, precariously, up on its driver-side.

Nadine, for perhaps twenty to thirty seconds, had no idea where she was, or what was happening. Then everything came back in a horrific rush, and she awoke with a hoarse gasp. Chloe wasn’t in the truck next to her. Shit. The airbags had deployed, and now Nadine was curled painfully against her door. She turned herself around and kicked at the sagging windshield until it fell off the rest of the way.

“Chloe?” she called after crawling out, on hands and knees in the gravel. Before she could get up, someone seized her by the hair and hauled her to her feet.

It was Asav. He was disheveled and sweaty, hair falling into his blood-shot eyes, spectacles askew, veins bulging in his thick neck and bare forearms. He’d ruined his truck, Nadine noticed, the vehicle’s front end completely flattened and steaming, though the Shoreline truck was worse off. She smelled gas and greasy smoke. _Fok_. Not good.

 _"Where is my panther?_ ” Asav roared in her face, baring bloody teeth. He looked deranged. Utterly unhinged. Suddenly it was easy to picture this man murdering Chloe’s father.

"Right here, arsehole!”

Asav turned, right into the path of Chloe’s flying right hook. He reeled and let go of Nadine, who dropped to her knees, still dazed from the accident. She heard tires on gravel and looked up. Another truck had just arrived. Four men with guns got out. They pointed them at Nadine, and Chloe immediately backed away from Asav with her hands up. So, Asav _had_ brought men with him. _Goddamn it!_

"Easy there, boys,” said Chloe with a charming smile. Nadine could see in the strained lines of her face she was trying to figure out what to do, how to get out of this. “Let’s put those away and talk about this.”

Blank-faced, two of the men came over to Nadine, guns trained at her head. One man put a boot on her back and held her there, unable to move. The other two put themselves between Asav and Chloe, protecting their boss with cold-eyed efficiency.

"You…” said Asav, stunned, tossing his broken spectacles aside. “It’s you… But—but I _saw_ the panther. I saw it with my own eyes. How did you change back without…?” He fumbled at the open neck of his wrinkled, sweat-stained button-up shirt and pulled out a black cord—with an old, crude stone carving of a leopard threaded onto it with wire.

"Nice surprise, isn’t it?” Chloe laughed, but Nadine could hear the warble in it. She was scared, covering it up with false bravado and wit. “Was for me, too, first couple times it happened.”

"Frazer,” Asav wheezed in disbelief. “Chloe Frazer, in the flesh.”

“Been a while, Asav,” Chloe replied, her upper lip curling into a sneer. “Can’t say I’ve missed you, really. Didn’t have much time for that, lost and hiding in a bloody jungle for three goddamn years.”

“Do you know how long I’ve been searching for you?” Asav asked, though Nadine figured the question was rhetorical. “Ever since that day in the temple, when I saw what the idol did, I knew you would be my next prize. My greatest rival's daughter, trapped in the form of a panther. I sent hunting party after hunting party into that jungle, trying to flush you out. And you killed them all, and slipped away, every time. I’ll admit. I was impressed. Until, that is, Miss Ross came along, and showed me how it was done.”

Nadine glared at the ground in shame. Just knowing she’d had business dealings with this man put a foul taste in her mouth.

“I thought you were a smart woman, Miss Ross,” Asav continued, seeming to grow confident, now that he had the upper hand. “And yet, here you are. Trying to take what’s mine.”

“She _not_ yours,” Nadine snarled back. The boot on her back pressed harder.

“Tell you what,” Chloe said to Asav. “Let's make a deal. Give me the charm, let us go, and maybe I _won’t_ tear your throat out, when I change back.” She smiled again, baring those brilliantly white teeth of hers.

"So then, the transformation… is not permanent?” Asav’s eyes darkened with realization. “A daily cycle. I see. Remarkable. To imagine, the torture this would bring you, being forced to revert again and again—”

"That a no?” Chloe interrupted, sounding bored. She made a face. “Felt like a no.”

Asav shook himself and took a moment to give Nadine a calculating look. “Miss Ross. While I do appreciate your locating my prize and keeping it so healthy and… _spirited_ , I believe you have now violated our agreement by attempting to make off with it without my knowledge. I do not take kindly to such under-the-table actions. Shame. I did so enjoy working with you.” He smiled at Nadine in a way that made her skin crawl, then turned to his men and said, “Kill her. Throw her body in the ocean.” Then he motioned to Chloe. “She comes with us.”

One of the men went for Chloe, pulling a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket. He grabbed one of Chloe’s hands in the air and tried to twist it behind her back.

"Thanks, love, but I’m all set,” said Chloe. “Tried the whole chains and collar thing. Not into it.” Quick as a cobra, she slipped out of the man’s grip, ducked back, then snapped up an arm, the gun from her waistband in hand, and shot both men before they could blink.

The second Chloe had pulled away from the first man, Nadine moved. Everything hurt, and her head was spinning so badly she wanted to vomit, but Chloe needed her help. Nadine had not come all this way to fail now.

When Chloe’s gun went off, the boot on Nadine’s back lightened. Crouched there on the gravel, Nadine got her feet under her and lunged upwards, grabbing the man around the middle in a crushing tackle, then lifted him entirely off his feet and brought him down with all the force she could muster. They hit the ground so hard Nadine felt a few of his ribs buckle, and then reared up an elbow and smashed it down into his face.

The second man shouted in alarm, and Nadine hurled herself at him just as his gun went off, knocking the weapon sideways with her forearm. The sound was deafening, but he’d missed, and she launched herself at him in a fury, gripping him by the front of his shirt and bringing her fist down on his face and jaw until he went limp in her grasp, out cold. She shoved him away in disgust.

Now—

Now it was just them and Asav.

Unless he was able to radio for more men.

Already, he was unclipping a handheld from his belt, his other arm digging behind his back, no doubt for a gun. Chloe aimed, shot—and hit the radio with a staticky screech. Not to be outdone, Asav threw what was left of the radio at Chloe’s head, then dove for her. Chloe shot and hit him in the shoulder, but Asav didn’t stop. He struck Chloe in the face, knocked her gun away, and then tossed her sideways. Chloe skidded to her feet, off balance and dazed.

“Proud of yourself?” he growled at her, a dark spot of blood welling beneath his shirt, staining it red.

“A little, yeah,” Chloe laughed. “Come on.” She put her fists up.

Nadine struggled back to her feet. Chloe and Asav were trading blows—Chloe was fast and tricky, but Asav had precision and a raw power Chloe simply could not produce. How a businessman knew how to brawl like that was beyond Nadine, but at this point, she did not care to find out.

Asav hit Chloe in the head and Nadine leapt onto his back from behind with a driving elbow to his injured shoulder. He roared like a wounded animal and tried to tear her off, but she clung with her knees to his hips and punched him, again and again, on the side of the head. Somehow he managed to rip her off and they stumbled apart, then came back together, swinging wildly. He clipped her in the jaw and then seized her by the shoulder with a cruelly powerful hand, digging his thumb into her already soaked bandage, right into her bullet wound. Nadine screamed in pain and swung at him, but he caught her arm and then picked her up by the throat and dashed her to the ground. She blacked out for an instant.

When she came to, facedown in the gravel, she could hear Chloe and Asav fighting again, and forced herself to move. She had to get up. She had to help Chloe. She got to her knee, vision doubling, and saw Asav had Chloe by the throat now, trying to strangle her, Chloe beating at his arm weakly, choking and coughing. Nadine shakily stood and staggered over to them.

“Get off of her!” she yelled, and hit him in the back of the head. He dropped Chloe and spun around, and she kicked him in the chest, knocking him back. Chloe was up, face red, throat bruised, and together, they went at Asav like a storm.

Asav managed to dodge them twice before a blow hit true, Nadine punching him so hard the whole of her shoulder jolted from the force, and then Chloe was there, her two fists folded together, swinging a haymaker right into the side of Asav’s jaw. As he reeled, Nadine twisted sharply and gave him an uppercut that cracked his teeth together, and then Chloe reared back and socked him full in the face. They were fighting him, together, in perfect tandem, punching and kicking as if it’d been choreographed, and through the pain and the fear Nadine felt a wild thrill, an amazement that she was here with Chloe, fighting for their lives, together.

Asav collapsed backwards, slamming into the crumpled roof of their still-perilously leaning Shoreline truck with a metallic crunch and groan. He slid to the gravel on his arse and did not move, grimacing in pain. “What have you done?” he cried through a bloody nose and several broken teeth. “You’ve _ruined_ everything.”

"Christ, you’re insufferable,” Chloe spat. “It's only about what you have to lose, isn't it?”

"You lost. We’re taking the carving,” Nadine demanded.

"Never!” Asav reached up a shaky, bruised hand and clenched it around the carving, and then did something to it—squeezed it, twisted it, _something_ —because suddenly Chloe screamed in pain and fell to the ground, clutching at herself. Before Nadine’s very eyes, she burst out of her clothes, her form blinking back to the Bengalese black panther, its bright-grey eyes turned almost entirely black with pupils dilated in fear, froth bubbling at the corners of its mouth. It screamed just as Chloe had a second ago, lost in a mania of frenzied pain, and lashed out in a panic, narrowly missing Nadine with a swiping paw before trying to attack Asav, who wrenched the idol again. The panther shrieked and huddled in on itself in agony.

 _"Chloe!_ ”

Asav began to laugh, and, leaning against the truck's dented roof, slowly got to his feet. He limped forward, jerking the cord around his neck so it broke and holding the carving in his hand.

"Now I will—"

With a sudden shuddering groan, the Shoreline truck began to sway forward, and then tipped completely over—right onto Asav, knocking him down on his stomach and crushing both of his legs beneath three tons of warped metal. Sprawled out on the gravel, Asav moaned pathetically in pain, unable to move.

Now free, the panther stood, ears back, teeth bared, and began to walk with purpose toward Asav. Nadine could see, in the lines of its body and the hungry lust in its eyes, that it wasn’t Chloe anymore, not one bit.

"Chloe!” she cried out. The panther seemed to hesitate for a moment, then continued to approach the fallen man, growling viciously.

"No!” shrieked Asav, his usually deep, commanding voice shrill with fear. He could barely lift his head anymore, weeping like a child into the dirt. Nadine had never seen anything more pathetic. “Stay away, beast!”

"Chloe!” Nadine said again, louder. “Leave him!”

The panther stopped, and stood there, trembling. Asav blubbered on pitifully, trapped in place, surrounded by a growing puddle of pungent gasoline. The smoke billowing from the truck's ruined hood was thicker now, gone black. One spark, and the entire truck would explode. Asav would die there on the ground, and Chloe’s hands would stay clean of his death. A fitting end to such a foul man, in Nadine's opinion.

“We’re done here,” she said calmly. “Please, Chloe.”

For a moment, the panther did not move at all. When it did finally stir, it did not turn away from Asav, but continued toward him, and Nadine’s heart clenched, afraid she had lost the woman inside of it forever—but the animal was not trying to attack Asav. It was not even growling anymore. With delicate care, it plucked the carving up into its mouth from where Asav had dropped it and then, without giving the man on the ground a second look, walked calmly to where Nadine was standing.

“Chloe,” Nadine breathed out, relieved. She put her hand out, palm up, and the panther dropped the carving into it. She crouched and patted the majestic creature on the head. The panther closed its eyes and pressed forward to curl into the open cradle of her arms, purring sonorously. Nadine stroked it between the ears and under the chin one last time. “Are you ready?” she asked.

The panther peered up at her and met her eyes. It almost seemed to nod.

Nadine stood, and took two steps away. If Asav had shown them anything, it was that breaking the carving would hurt Chloe badly. They could only hope it would cure her but not outright kill her—then again, what other choice did they have than this? She put the carving on the ground, and, after a moment of contemplation, gave it a harsh stomp beneath her boot—

Something flashed, and a stunning force knocked her flat. Nadine struck the back of her head on the gravel and lay there for a few seconds, vision spinning. When she could move again, she sat up and pushed herself to her feet.

“Chloe!”

On the ground was Chloe Frazer, naked as the day, out cold. Nadine scrambled over and grabbed her by the shoulders. Her body was cold but she was breathing slowly and steadily. A good sign.

“Chloe? Chloe, wake up!” She peeled an eyelid back. Chloe was deeply unconscious. Nadine guessed she was also at the very least concussed, probably from the curse breaking. She pulled off her bloody, bullet-hole-riddled Shoreline shirt for perhaps the very last time, and wrapped Chloe in it, feeling nostalgic and grateful and very, very tired. Her injured shoulder protested as she hefted the other woman into her arms, just as she had that wonderful night in her barracks. Back then, however, she had done it to bring Chloe back to her cage. This time, Nadine was going to set her free.

Carrying her close to her chest, Nadine began to walk. She could hear, faintly, the puttering engine of a seaplane idling by the docks. Chloe’s friend, still waiting for them to show. Hopefully, she could reach him before he decided they weren’t coming and left.

Five minutes later, not even halfway there, Nadine heard a concussive _bang!_ The explosion woke Chloe with a start. _Good riddance_ , Nadine thought, then peered down at the woman in her arms. She looked disoriented for a moment, then smiled drunkenly up at Nadine, and said, “Y'know, you should be the hero more often, Ross. It suits you.”

“Ja, alright,” said Nadine, who was so tired and beat up she could barely stand upright.

“There’s…” Chloe paused a moment, blinking sluggishly. “There’s two of you now, right?”

“Ja.”

“Just checking.”

She walked for what felt like forever, following the sound of the seaplane's engines. At last, she spotted it—a Grumman G-21 Goose, idling by the dock, where an older man with a bushy grey mustache and a sour-smelling cigar poking out of his mouth was waiting, checking his watch every few seconds. When he saw them he waved, and Chloe began to struggle weakly in Nadine’s arms until she let her down. Keeping one hand on Nadine so she wouldn’t fall, Chloe threw her arms around him once they were close enough.

“Sully, oh, I could bloody kiss you right now—”

“Jesus!” said the man. “Where the hell’re your goddamn clothes? Nevermind, I don’t wanna know, just get in already!” He nodded at Nadine, but made no comment, just opened the plane door to usher them in, then sealed it up before settling into the cockpit and starting to flip a row of switches. “Hurry up and siddown already, goddammit!”

Nadine helped Chloe into a seat and did her seatbelt for her, then sat next to her and fastened her own. Under her seat, she found an old blanket and put it over Chloe. The entire time ‘Sully’ maneuvered the plane away from the docks, then taxied across the open water, the sputtering engines deepening to a full-throated roar, Nadine hoped and prayed nothing would go wrong. She could imagine the police arriving, just then. Or the dregs of Shoreline, intent on revenge, come to shoot the plane down. After everything they’d gone through, she couldn’t bear failing now. Once they were fully in the air, she sagged in relief.

“Where to?” ‘Sully’ hollered back to her from the cockpit.

Nadine looked over at Chloe, passed out next to her, sleeping deeply. She recalled, faintly, during their few evenings together, Chloe talking about London, and how she’d used to live there. Nadine had never been. Now seemed as good a time as any to visit.

“How’s London, this time of year?” she yelled back over the engines.

“Cold and rainy, but if it’s what the lady wants, it’s what the lady gets!” He fell quiet, intent on flying, and Nadine looked again at Chloe, her face peaceful in repose, and then put her own head back, and was almost immediately asleep.

 

—

 

She woke to find Chloe watching her tenderly. The engines had dropped to a steady drone, and it was still dark outside her window, so she guessed it’d only been an hour or two since their miraculous escape from Cape Town, Shoreline, and Asav. It almost didn’t seem real, thinking about it.

“You okay?” she asked, voice thick from sleep.

“I’m fine,” Chloe replied, her eyes so warm Nadine felt her heart stir. “Thanks to you.”

“Ja. I…” Nadine looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. “You’re welcome.”

A hand covered her own on the armrest and squeezed firmly. “Really, Nadine. I couldn’t’ve done it without you.”

Nadine turned her hand over, so their fingers could interlace. “Sure.” Then she remembered something, and with an already-sore arm, fished in her pocket and pulled out Chloe's little Ganesh statue, which she'd kept for safekeeping that morning. "Here."

Chloe took it gratefully, tucking it into the pocket of Nadine's old shirt. "Wish my dad could've seen us today. You and him would've got on like a house on fire." She laughed, then said, “Gimme a minute or two. I’ll look at those injuries for you, get you cleaned up. I’ve been told I’m not half bad with a needle, just so you know.”

Nadine buried a wince. Chloe had gotten away with some bruises, bumps, and a light concussion, but Nadine was definitely the worse for wear. She’d been trying to ignore it all, up until now, and acknowledged the throbbing pain with a grunt and a fresh sheen of sweat to her brow. She’d live.

“Alright,” she agreed.

“So…” said Chloe, smiling wistfully at her. “Tell me. Now that you’ve left your father’s business to rot and turned yourself around… What’s next for Nadine Ross?”

"Not sure, really,” Nadine said honestly. She had been so involved with the escape and everything to do with their plan that she had not much thought about afterwards, and what she might possibly do with her life, now that it was hers and hers alone. The possibilities seemed almost limitless.

"I, ah,” said Nadine, deciding to take a chance, and felt her heart begin to beat a bit faster in her chest, “I think I’d like to help animals, maybe.”

"'Course.” Chloe gave her a smug little look, like it’d been her idea all along.

“I want to travel, too,” Nadine went on. “Try new things.”

“New things? Do tell.”

“Treasure-hunting, maybe.” She heard Chloe’s breath catch, and kept her face smooth, expression the slightest bit guarded. “Probably, for that, I should get myself a business partner. Someone with experience, to show me the ropes, ja?” She turned her head and looked over at Chloe. “Know anyone who might be interested?”

Chloe was grinning so broadly it looked like it hurt, her eyes shimmering with emotion and not a little mischief. “I think I have someone in mind.”

"Good,” said Nadine. “Because I’ve already got a lead on a job. Should be an easy one; stealing back a certain artifact from a corrupt criminal who recently passed away. I believe it was a...tusk?”

At that, a tear escaped Chloe’s brimming eyes and raced down her cheek. She sniffled, then laughed in delight. Nadine found herself laughing as well, then yelped as Chloe seized her by the back of the neck and yanked her over. They kissed. Nadine felt the urgency in it, the passion, but knew they had the time now to enjoy it, and explore its reaches. This wasn’t the end of anything, but the beginning.

They parted, and Chloe fumbled with the armrest between them until it folded up, so she could huddle up closer to Nadine’s side. “Much better,” she murmured, and rubbed her nose against Nadine’s ear, humming softly to herself.

"Do… Do you think we really did it?” Nadine asked, warily checking her watch. It was past 2AM, when Chloe always changed back to the panther. But what if they’d only delayed the transformation by a day, and it simply returned again the next night?

"Nah,” said Chloe drowsily. “Before, I could feel it—the animal, always there in the back of my head. But it’s not there now. It’s gone for good. But, I mean, there might be side effects, I suppose. Remember, I was cursed for three whole years.”

Nadine shrugged, and put her arm around her. “Even if there are, I’m sure we’ll find a way to make them work.”

Chloe kissed her again, slower this time, and then lay her head on Nadine’s shoulder and—absurdly, wonderfully—began to purr.

"Really, Frazer?” said Nadine, beginning to laugh.

Chloe grinned up at her with those brilliant, sharp-looking white teeth of hers. “ _Really_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, facedown on the floor, in a muffled voice: I am very tired
> 
>  
> 
> today's word is "partners." 
> 
> this fic, officially, has nearly killed me. I'm thinkin it's time for a bit of a hibernation, or at least something like a temporary retirement. I hope I have earned a small break with this one, right?? maybe?? no?? but still, thank you to everyone who read, kudosed, or commented. chlodine week, in my opinion, was a success all around, and involved so many bomb-ass people! 
> 
> oh my god is the word count seriously that close to 40k fuck this I'm gonna type all the words I know:
> 
> rectangle... america... megaphone... monday... butthole...
> 
> ok that won't work, let's just start writing the script of that fuckin bee movie here, cuz you people like memes right? jk I'm not that horrible. fuck you, those extra five hundred words or so that I need!!!


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